Srom  t^e  feifirati?  of 

(profeBBor  TJ?ifPiam  J^^nrj  (Breen 

Qffequeat^b  6^^  ^itn  to 
t^  feifitari?  of 

(princefon  C^eofogtcdf  ^eminatg 


BS  657  .H53  1851 
Hitchcock,  Edward,  1793- 

1864. 
The  religion  of  geology  and 

its  connected  sciences 


J<^^c,Ui-2jr^f^'^-f 


,#^->     v>s^ 


>^  39^y  t 


^  ^-^    1.:  ^^.>^i.>.' 


THE 


RELIGION  OF  GEOLOGY 


AND     IT! 


CONNECTED    SCIENCES 


/ 


BY 


EDWARD   HITCHCOCK,   D.D.,  LL.D., 

PRESIDENT  OF  AMHERST  COLLEGE,  AND  PROFESSOR  OF  NATURAL  THEOLOGY 
AND  GEOLOGY. 


"  Science  has  a  foundation,  and  so  has  religion  ;  lei  tliem  unite  their  foundations,  and  the  basis  will  be 
broader,  and  tliey  will  be  two  compartments  of  one  great  fabric  reared  to  the  glory  of  God.  Let  the  one  be 
the  outer  and  the  other  the  inner  court.  In  the  one,  let  all  look,  and  admire,  and  adore;  and  in  the  other, 
let  (hose  who  have  faith  kneel,  and  pray,  and  praise.  Let  the  one  be  the  sanctuary  where  human  learning' 
may  present  its  richest  incense  as  an  ofteriug-  to  God  ;  and  the  other  the  holiest  of  all,  separated  from  it  by  a 
veil  now  rent  in  twain,  and  in  which,  on  a  blood-sprinkled  mercy  seat,  we  pour  out  the  love  of  a  reconciled 
heart,  and  hear  the  oracles  of  the  living  God."  — AT Co«A. 


BOSTON: 

PHHI^IPS,  SAMPSON,   AND   COMPANY. 

1851. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1851,  by 

PHILLIPS,    SAMPSON,    &    CO., 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


STEREOTTPED  AT  THE 
tOSTON    STEREOTYPE    FOUNDRY. 


TO    MY    BELOVED    WIFE. 

Both  gratitude  and  affection  prompt  me  to  dedicate 
these  lectures  to  you.  To  your  kindness  and  self-deny- 
bg  labors  I  have  been  mainly  indebted  for  the  ability 
and  leisure  to  give  any  successful  attention  to  scientific 
pursuits.  Early  should  I  have  sunk  under  the  pressure 
of  feeble  health,  nervous  despondency,  poverty,  and 
blighted  hopes,  had  not  your  sympathies  and  cheering 
counsels  sustained  me.  And  during  the  last  thirty  years 
of  professional  labors,  how  little  could  I  have  done  in 
the  cause  of  science,  had  you  not,  in  a  great  measure, 
relieved  me  of  the  cares  of  a  numerous  family  !  Further- 
more, while  I  have  described  scientific  facts  with  the  pen 
only,  how  much  more  vividly  have  they  been  portrayed 
by  your  pencil  !  And  it  is  peculiarly  appropriate  that 
your  name  should  be  associated  with  mine  in  any  literary 
effort  where  the  theme  is  geology ;  since  your  artistic 
skill  has  done  more  than  my  voice  to  render  that  science 
attractive  to  the  young  men  whom  I  have  instructed.  I 
love   especially   to   connect   your   name    with   an   effort   to 


IV  DEDICATION. 

defend  and  illustrate  that  religion  which  I  am  sure  is 
dearer  to  you  than  every  thing  else.  I  know  that  you 
would  forbid  this  pubhc  allusion  to  your  labors  and  sac- 
rifices, did  I  not  send  it  forth  to  the  world  before  it 
meets  your  eye.  But  I  am  unwilHng  to  lose  this  oppor- 
tunity of  bearing  a  testimony  which  both  justice  and 
affection  urge  me  to  give.  In  a  world  where  much  is 
said  of  female  deception  and  inconstancy,  I  desire  to 
testify  that  one  man  at  least  has  placed  implicit  confi- 
dence in  woman,  and  has  not  been  disappointed.  Through 
many  checkered  scenes  have  we  passed  together,  both 
on  the  land  and  the  sea,  at  home  and  in  foreign  countries ; 
and  now  the  voyage  of  life  is  almost  ended.  The  ties 
of  earthly  affection,  which  have  so  long  united  us  in 
uninterrupted  harmony  and  happiness,  will  soon  be  sun- 
dered. But  there  are  ties  which  death  cannot  break; 
and  we  indulge  the  hope  that  by  them  we  shall  be 
linked  together  and  to  the  throne  of  God  through 
eternal    ages. 

In    life    and    in    death    I    abide 

Your    affectionate    husband, 

EDWARD    HITCHCOCK. 


PREFACE. 


Most  of  the  following  lectures  were  written  as  much 
as  eight  or  ten  years  ago,  though  additions  and  alterations 
have  been  made,  from  time  to  time,  to  adapt  them  to  the  prog- 
ress of  science.  They  were  undertaken  at  the  suggestion  of 
my  friend.  Rev.  Henry  Neill,  then  of  Hatfield,  now  of  Lenox. 
I  had  no  definite  intention  as  to  the  use  to  be  made  of  the  lec- 
tures ;  but  having  for  many  years  turned  my  attention  to  the 
bearings  of  science,  and  especially  of  geology,  upon  religion, 
I  felt  a  desire  to  put  upon  paper  the  final  results  of  my  exam- 
inations. I  threw  them  into  the  lecture  form,  that  I  might,  if 
best,  deliver  them  to  the  geological  classes  which  I  should  in- 
struct in  the  college  with  which  I  am  connected.  This  I  have 
done  for  many  years,  and  also  have  used  them  in  various 
places  before  lyceums.  They  are  at  length  published,  from 
a  conviction  that  something  of  the  kind,  from  some  quarter, 
is  needed.  Many  of  the  thoughts,  indeed,  which,  at  the  time 
they  were  put  upon  paper,  were  original,  have  since  been 
brought  out  by  other  writers.  Yet  enough  of  this  description 
probably  remain  to  expose  me  to  severe  criticism.  I  beg  the 
intelligent  Christian,  however,  before  he  condemns  my  views, 
to  settle  it  in  his  mind  what  he  can  substitute  for  them  that 
will  be  more  honorable  to  religion.  It  is  much  easier  to  find 
fault  with  a  mode  of  defending  the  truth  than  to  invent  a 
a* 


VI  PREFACE. 

better  method.  We  may  not  be  pleased  with  certain  views  in 
vindication  of  rehgion,  and  yet  the  alternative  of  rejecting 
them  may  be  so  much  worse  as  to  lead  us  at  least  to  be  silent. 
Would  that  Christian  critics  had  always  kept  this  fact  in  mind 
when  writing  upon  the  views  of  geologists  !  They  would 
find  often  that  they  are  straining  at  a  gnat  and  must  swallow 
a  camel. 

If  my  views  are  erroneous,  as  exhibited  in  these  lectures,  I 
cannot  plead  that  they  have  been  hastily  adopted.  Most  of 
them,  indeed,  have  been  the  subjects  of  thought  occasionally 
for  thirty  years.  I  hope,  however,  that  all  my  suggestions 
will  not  be  thought  of  equal  importance  in  my  own  estima- 
tion ;  since  some  of  them  are  merely  hypothetical  hints 
thrown  out  for  the  consideration  of  abler  minds. 

This  work  does  not  exhibit  quite  so  much  of  logical  exactness 
as  I  could  wish.  But  my  leading  object  has  been  fully  carried 
out,  viz.,  to  exhibit  all  the  religious  bearings  of  geology. 
Several  of  the  lectures,  however,  have  been  written  as  if  in- 
dependent of  all  the  rest ;  and,  therefore,  the  reader  will  find 
some  leading  thoughts  repeated,  but  always  in  difierent 
connections. 

After  acknowledging  that  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century 
has  elapsed  since  this  subject  first  engaged  my  attention,  it 
may  be  useless  for  me  to  ask  any  indulgence  from  criticism. 
But  really,  I  feel  less  prepared  to  write  upon  it  than  I  did 
during  the  first  five  years  in  which  I  studied  it.  I  have  learnt 
that  it  is  a  most  difficult  subject.  It  requires,  in  order  to  mas- 
ter it,  an  acquaintance  with  three  distinct  branches  of  knowl- 
edge, not  apt  to  go  together.  First,  an  acquaintance  with 
geology  in  all  its  details,  and  with  the  general  principles  of 
zoology,  botany,  and  comparative  anatomy ;  secondly,  a 
knowledge  of  sacred  hermeneutics,  or  the  principles  of  inter- 


PREFACE.  Vll 

preting  the  Scriptures ;  thirdly,  a  clear  conception  of  the 
principles  of  natural  and  revealed  religion. 

As  examples  of  efforts  made  by  men  who  were  deficient  in 
a  knowledge  of  some  of  these  branches,  I  am  compelled  to 
quote  a  large  proportion  of  the  works  which,  within  the  last 
thirty  or  forty  years,  have  been  written  on  the  religion  of  geol- 
ogy ;  especially  on  its  connection  with  revealed  religion.  I 
am  happy  to  except  such  writers  as  Dr.  J.  Pye  £  nith.  Dr. 
Chalmers,  Dr.  Harris,  Dr.  Buckland,  Professor  Sedgwick,  Pro- 
fessor Whewell,  Dr.  King,  Dr.  Anderson,  and  Hugh  Miller ; 
for  they,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  acquainted  themselves 
with  all  the  subjects  named  above,  before  they  undertook  to 
write.  But  a  still  larger  number  of  authors,  although  men  of 
talents,  and  familiar,  it  may  be,  with  the  Bible  and  theology, 
had  no  accurate  knowledge  of  geology.  The  results  havo 
been,  first,  that,  by  resorting  to  denunciation  and  charges  of 
infidelity,  to  answer  arguments  from  geology  which  they  did 
not  understand,  they  have  excited  unreasonable  prejudices 
and  alarm  among  common  Christians  respecting  that  science 
and  its  cultivators ;  secondly,  they  have  awakened  disgust, 
and  even  contempt,  among  scientific  men,  especially  those  of 
sceptical  tendencies,  who  have  inferred  that  a  cause  which 
resorts  to  such  defences  must  be  very  weak.  They  have  felt 
very  much  as  a  good  Greek  scholar  would,  who  should  read 
a  severe  critique  upon  the  style  of  Isocrates,  or  Demosthenes, 
and,  before  he  had  finished  the  review,  should  discover  inter- 
nal evidence  that  the  writer  had  never  learnt  the  Greek 
alphabet. 

On  the  other  hand,  prejudices  and  disgust  equally  strong 
have  been  produced  in  the  mind  of  many  a  man  well  versed 
in  theology  and  biblical  exegesis  by  some  productions  of  sci- 
entific men  upon  the  religious  bearings  of  geology,  because 


VIU  PREFACE. 

they  advanced  principles  which  the  merest  tyro  in  divinity 
would  know  to  be  false  and  fatal  to  religion,  and  which  they 
advocated  only  because  they  had  never  studied  the  Bible  or 
theology. 

And  here  I  would  remark  that  it  does  not  follow,  because  a 
man  is  eminent  in  geology,  that  his  opinion  is  of  any  value 
upon  the  religion  of  geology.  For  the  two  subjects  are  quite 
distinct,  and  a  man  may  be  a  Coryphseus  in  the  principles 
of  geology,  who  is  an  ignoramus  in  its  religious  applications. 
Indeed,  many  of  the  ablest  writers  upon  geology  take  the 
ground  that  its  religious  bearings  do  not  belong  to  the  science. 

These  statements,  instead  of  pleading  my  apology  for  the 
following  work,  may  only  show  my  temerity  and  vanity.  Nev- 
ertheless, they  afford  me  an  opportunity  of  calling  the  attention 
of  the  religious  public  to  the  great  inadequacy  of  the  means  now 
possessed  of  acquiring  a  knowledge  of  the  different  branches 
of  natural  science.  I  refer  especially  to  comparative  anat- 
omy, zoology,  botany,  and  geology,  in  our  literary  and  theo- 
logical seminaries.  The  latter,  so  far  as  I  know,  do  not  pre- 
tend to  give  any  instruction  in  these  branches.  And  in  our 
colleges  that  instruction  is  confined  almost  entirely  to  a  few 
brief  courses  of  lectures ;  often  so  few  that  the  students 
scarcely  find  out  how  ignorant  they  are  of  the  subjects ;  and 
hence  those  who  are  expecting  to  enter  the  sacred  ministry 
vainly  imagine  that,  at  almost  any  period  of  their  future 
course,  they  can,  in  a  few  weeks,  become  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted with  physical  science  to  meet  and  refute  the  sceptic. 
In  all  our  seminaries,  however,  abundant  provision  is  made, 
as  it  ought  to  be,  for  the  study  of  intellectual  philosophy  and 
biblical  interpretation. 

So  well  satisfied  are  two  of  the  most  enlightened  and  efli- 
cient  Christian  denominations  in  Great  Britain  —  the  Congre- 


PREFACE.  ix 

gationalists  and  the  Scottish  Free  Church  —  of  the  need  of 
more  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  natural  sciences  in  min- 
isters of  the  gospel,  that  they  have  attached  a  professorship 
of  natural  history  to  their  theological  seminaries.  That  in  the 
New  College  in  Edinburgh  is  filled  by  the  venerable  Dr. 
Fleming ;  that  in  the  New  College  in  London  by  Dr.  Lan- 
kester.  From  a  syllabus  of  Dr.  Fleming's  course  of  lectures, 
which  he  put  into  my  hands  last  summer,  I  perceive  that  it 
differs  little  from  the  instruction  in  natural  science  in  the  col- 
leges of  our  country.  This  being  the  case,  it  strikes  me  that 
this  is  not  exactly  the  professorship  that  is  needed  in  the 
theological  seminaries  of  our  country.  But  they  do  need,  it 
seems  to  me,  professorships  of  natural  theology,  to  be  filled 
by  men  who  are  practically  familiar  with  the  natural  sciences. 
If  any  such  chairs  exist  in  these  seminaries,  I  do  not  know  it. 
They  are  amply  provided  with  instruction  in  the  metaphysics 
of  theology,  hermeneutics,  and  ecclesiastical  history  ;  and  I 
should  be  sorry  to  see  these  departments  less  amply  provided 
for.  But  here  is  the  wide  field  of  natural  theology,  large 
enough  for  several  professorships,  which  finds  no  place,  save 
a  nook  in  the  chair  of  dogmatics.  This  might  have  answered 
well  enough  when  the  battle-field  with  scepticism  lay  in  the 
region  of  metaphysics,  or  history,  or  biblical  interpretation. 
But  the  enemy  have,  within  a  few  years  past,  intrenched 
themselves  within  the  dominions  of  natural  science  ;  and  there, 
for  a  long  time  to  come,  must  be  the  tug  of  the  war.  And 
since  they  have  substituted  skeletons,  and  trees,  and  stones, 
as  weapons,  in  the  place  of  abstractions,  so  must  Christians 
do,  if  they  would  not  be  defeated.  Let  me  refer  to  a  few 
examples  to  show  how  inadequately  furnished  the  minister 
must  be  for  such  a  contest,  who  has  used  only  the  means  of 
instruction  provided  in  our  existing  seminaries,  literary  and 
theological. 


X  PREFACE. 

Take  the  leading  points  discussed  in  the  following  lectures. 
How  can  a  nfian  who  has  heard  only  a  brief  and  hurried 
course  of  thirty  lectures  on  chemistry,  twenty  on  anatomy 
and  physiology,  fifteen  upon  zoology,  ten  upon  botany,  ten 
upon  mineralogy,  and  twenty  upon  geology,  at  the  college, 
with  no  additional  instruction  at  the  theological  seminary,  — 
how  can  he  judge  correctly  of  points  and  reasoning  difficult 
to  be  mastered  by  adepts  in  these  sciences  >  How  certain  to 
be  worsted  in  an  argument  with  an  accomplished  naturalist 
who  is  a  sceptic  ! 

Suppose  the  sceptic  takes  the  ground  advocated  by  Oken 
and  the  author  of  the  "  Vestiges."  Let  the  clergyman,  whom 
I  have  supposed,  read  the  works  of  Miller  and  Sedgwick  in 
reply  to  the  development  hypothesis,  and  see  whether  he  can 
even  understand  their  arguments  without  a  more  careful  study 
of  the  sciences  on  which  they  rest. 

A  subject  of  no  small  importance  in  its  religious  bearings 
has  recently  excited  a  good  deal  of  sharp  discussion  in  this 
country.  I  refer  to  the  questions  of  the  specific  unity  and 
unity  of  origin  of  the  human  race.  To  a  person  who  has 
never  studied  the  subject,  it  seems  a  matter  easy  to  settle ; 
yet,  in  fact,  it  demands  extensive  research  even  to  understand. 
And  we  have  seen  one  of  the  most  accomplished  zoologists 
an'd  anatomists  of  the  present  age  take  ground  on  these  points 
in  opposition  to  the  almost  universal  opinion.  The  result  has 
been  that  not  a  few  talented  replies  to  his  arguments  have 
appeared,  mostly,  I  believe,  from  ministers.  I  have  not  seen 
them  all.  But  in  respect  to  those  which  I  have  read  it  has 
seemed  to  me,  without  having  the  least  sympathy  with  the 
views  of  Professor  Agassiz,  that  the  authors  have  not  the  most 
remote  conception  of  the  principal  arguments  on  which  he 
relies,  derived  from  zoology  and  comparative  anatomy ;  nor 


PREFACE.  XI 

do  I  believe  that  they  can  understand  and  appreciate  them 
until  they  have  studied  those  sciences.* 

Although  I  fear  that  theologians  are  not  aware  of  the 
fact,  yet  probably  the  doctrines  of  materialism  are  more 
widely  embraced  at  this  day  than  almost  any  other  reli- 
gious error.  But  in  which  of  our  schools,  save  the  medical, 
is  there  any  instruction  given  in  physiology  and  zoology, 
that  will  prepare  a  man  to  make  the  least  headway  against 
such  delusions  ?  The  arguments  by  which  materialism  is 
defended  are  among  the  most  subtle  in  the  whole  range  of 
theology  and  natural  science ;  and  without  a  knowledge  of 
the  latter  they  can  neither  be  appreciated  nor  refuted.  The 
mere  metaphysical  abstractions  by  which  they  are  usually  met 
excite  only  the  contempt  of  the  acute  physiologist  who  is  a 
materialist. 

I  might  refer,  in  this  connection,  to  the  whole  subject  of 
pantheism,  in  its  chameleon  forms.  The  rhapsodies  of  spir- 
itual pantheism  must,  indeed,  be  met  by  metaphysics  equally 
transcendental.  But,  after  all,  it  is  from  biology  that  the  pan- 
theist derives  his  choicest  weapons.  He  appeals,  also,  to 
astronomy,  zoology,  and  geology ;  nor  is  it  the  superficial 
naturalist  that  can  show  how  hollow  is  the  foundation  on 
which  he  rests. 

These  are  only  a  few  examples  of  the  points  of  physical 
science  on  which  scepticism  at  this  moment  has  batteries 
erected  with  which  to  assail  spiritual  religion.  Will  the  min- 
ister but  slightly  familiar  with  the  ground  chosen  by  the  enemy 
be  able  not  only  to  silence  his  guns,  but,  as  every  able  de- 
fender of  the  truth  ought  to  do,  to  turn  them  against  its  foes  ? 

*  I  ought  surely  to  except  the  work  of  Professor  Bachman,  which 
I  have  not  read,  but  which  was  certainly  written  by  an  able  naturalist. 


Xll  PREFACE. 

Surely  it  needs  a  professor  of  natural  theology  in  our  theo- 
logical seminaries,  (and  if  such  chairs  existed  in  our  colleges 
they  would  be  serviceable,)  to  teach  those  who  expect  to  be 
officers  in  the  sacramental  host  how  to  carry  on  the  holy  war, 
I  do  not  see  how  much  more  time  can  be  given  to  the  natural 
sciences  in  our  colleges  than  is  usually  done,  without  encroach 
ing  upon  other  indispensable  branches.      If,  therefore,  pro 
vision  be  not  made  for  studying  the  religious  bearings  of  these 
sciences  in  our  theological  seminaries,  our  youthful  evan 
gelists  must  go  forth  to  their  work  without  the  ability  to  vindi 
cate  the  cause  of  religion  against  the  assaults  of  the  sceptical 
naturalist.     Would  not,  then,  those  wealthy  and  benevolen 
individuals  be  great  public   benefactors,  who   should   endow 
professorships   of    natural    religion    in   our   schools   of    the 
prophets  ? 

But  I  must  not  pursue  this  subject  farther.  I  commit  my 
work  to  the  public  with  no  raised  expectations  of  its  welcome 
reception.  I  have  a  high  opinion  of  the  enlightened  candor 
of  the  educated  classes  of  our  country,  especially  those  in 
the  ministry.  Yet  I  know  that  many  prejudices  exist  against 
science  in  its  connections  with  religion.  And,  therefore,  my 
only  hope  of  any  measure  of  success  in  this  effort  rests  upon 
the  divine  blessing.  But  if  the  work  be  not  pleasing  to  Infi- 
nite Wisdom  and  Benevolence,  why  should  I  desire  for  it  an 
ephemeral  success  among  men  ? 

Amherst  College,  May  1,  1851. 


EXPLANATION  OF  THE  FRONTISPIECE. 

This  section  of  the  earth's  crust  is  intended  to  bring  under  the  eye 
the  leading  features  of  geology. 

1.  The  relative  Position  of  the  Stratified  and  the  Unstratified  Bocks. 

The  unstratified  rocks,  viz.,  granite,  sienite,  porphyry,  trap,  and  lava, 
are  represented  as  lying  beneath  the  stratified  class,  for  the  most  part, 
yet  piercing  through  them  in  the  centre  of  the  section,  and  by  several 
dikes  or  veins,  through  which  masses  have  been  protruded  to  the  sur- 
face. The  unstratified  class  are  all  colored  red,  to  indicate  their  igneous 
origin.  Granite  seems  to  have  been  first  melted  and  protruded,  and  it 
continued  to  be  pushed  upward  till  the  close  of  the  secondary  period  of 
the  stratified  rocks,  as  is  shown  by  the  vein  of  granite  on  the  section. 
Sienite  and  porphyry  seem  to  have  been  next  thrust  up,  from  below 
the  granite  ;  next,  the  varieties  of  trap  were  protruded  from  beneath  the 
porphyry ;  and  last,  the  lava,  which  still  continues  to  be  poured  out 
upon  the  surface  ft-om  beneath  all  the  rest. 

2.  The  Stratified  Rocks. 

The  stratified  rocks  represented  on  both  flanks  of  the  granite  peak  in 
the  section,  appear  to  have  been  deposited  from  water,  and  subsequently 
more  or  less  lifted  up,  fractured,  and  bent.  An  attempt  is  made,  on  the 
right  hand  side  of  the  section,  to  exhibit  the  foldings  and  inclination  of 
the  strata.  The  lowest  are  bent  the  most,  and  their  dip  is  the  greatest ; 
and,  as  a  general  fact,  there  is  a  gradual  approach  to  horizontality  as  we 
rise  on  the  scale. 

3.  The  right  hand  side  of  the  Section. 

The  strata  on  the  right  hand  are. divided  into  five  classes:  first  and 
lowest,  the  crystalline,  or  priinari/,  destitute  of  organic  remains,  and  prob- 
ably metamorphosed  from  a  sedimentary  to  a  crystalline  state,  by  the 
action  of  subjacent  heat.  2.  The  palaeozoic  class,  or  those  containing  the 
earliest  types  of  animals  and  plants,  and  of  vast  thickness,  mostly  depos- 
ited in  the  ocean.  3.  The  secondary  class,  reaching  from  the  top  of  the 
lower  new  red  or  Permian  system,  to  the  top  of  the  chalk.  4.  The  ter- 
tiary strata,  partially  consolidated,  and  differing  entirely  from  the  rocks 
below  by  their  organic  contents.  5.  Alluvium,  or  strata  now  in  a  course 
of  deposition.  This  classification  is  sometimes  convenient,  and  frequent- 
ly used  by  geologists. 
h 


XIV  EXPLANATION    OF    THE    FRONTISPIECE. 

4.  The  left  hand  Side. 

On  the  left  hand  side  of  the  section  the  strata  are  so  divided  as  to  cor- 
respond to  the  six  great  groups  of  animals  and  plants  that  have  appeared 
on  the  globe.  The  names  attached  to  the  groups  are  derived  from  too?, 
{vivus,  living,)  with  the  Greek  numerals  prefixed.  The  lowest  group, 
being  destitute  of  organic  remains,  is  called  azoic,  (from  a  privitive  and 
twoc,)  that  is,  wanting  in  the  traces  of  life ;  and  corresponds  to  the  crys- 
talline group  on  the  other  side  of  the  section,  embracing  gneiss,  mica 
slate,  limestone,  and  clay  slate,  of  unknown  thickness.  The  protozoic 
group  corresponds  to  the  palaaozoic  of  the  right  hand  side,  and  embraces 
lower  and  upper  Silurian,  Devonian,  or  old  red  sandstone,  the  carbonifer- 
ous group,  and  the  Permian,  or  lower  new  red;  the  whole  in  Great 
Britain  not  less  than  thirty-three  thousand  feet  thick.  The  deutozoic  group 
consists  only  of  the  triassic,  or  upper  new  red  sandstone,  and  is  only  nine 
hundred  feet  thick,  but  marks  a  distinct  period  of  life.  The  tritozoic  em- 
braces the  lias  and  oolite,  with  the  Wealden,  and  is  three  thousand  six 
hundred  feet  thick.  The  tetrazoic  consists  of  the  chalk  and  green  sand, 
one  thousand  five  hundred  feet  thick.  The  pentezoic  embraces  the  ter- 
tiary strata  of  the  thickness  of  two  thousand  feet.  The  hectozoic  is  con- 
fined to  the  modern  deposits,  only  a  few  hundred  feet  thick,  but  entomb- 
ing all  the  existing  species  of  animals. 

5.  Characteristic  Organic  Remains. 

Had  space  permitted,  I  should  have  put  upon  the  section  a  reference 
to  the  most  characteristic  and  peculiar  mineral,  animal,  or  plant,  in  the 
different  groups.  Thus  the  azoic  group  is  crystalliferous,  or  crystal-bear- 
ing. The  lower  or  Silurian  part  of  the  protozoic  group  is  hrachiopodifer- 
ous,  trilobiferous,  polypiferous,  and  cephalopodiferous ;  that  is,  abounding 
in  brachiopod  and  cephalopod  shells  ;  in  polypifers,  or  corals ;  and  in 
trilobites,  a  family  of  crustaceans.  The  middle  part,  or  the  Devonian,  is 
thaumichthiferous,  or  containing  remarkable  fish.  The  upper  part,  or  the 
coal  measures,  is  carboniferous ;  that  is,  abounding  in  coal.  The  deuto- 
zoic group  is  ichniferous,  or  track-bearing,  from  the  multitude  of  its  fossil 
footmarks.  The  tritozoic  group  is  reptiliferous,  or  reptile-bearing,  from  the 
extraordinary  lizards  which  abound  in  it.  The  tetrazoic  is  foraminiferous, 
from  the  abundance  of  coral  animalcula,  called  foraminifera,  or  polythal- 
niia,  which  it  contains.  The  pentezoic  is  mammaliferous,  because  it  con- 
tains the  remains  of  mammalia,  or  quadrupeds.  The  hectozoic  is  homo- 
niferous,  or  man-bearing,  because  it  embraces  human  remains. 

There  is  no  one  place  on  earth  where  all  the  facts  exhibited  on 
this  section  are  presented  before  us  together.  Yet  all  the  facts  occur 
somewhere,  and  this  section  merely  brings  them  into  systematic  ar- 
rangement. 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE    I. 

Page 
REVIXATION  ILLUSTRATED  BY  SCIENCE, 1 


LECTURE     II. 
THE  EPOCH  OF  THE  EARTH'S   CREATION  UNREVEALED,      .         33 

LECTURE    III. 

DEATH  A    UNIVERSAL    LAW  OF    ORGANIC    BEINGS    ON   THIS 
GLOBE  FROM  THE  BEGINNING, 71 

LECTURE     IV. 

THE   NOACHIAN    DELUGE    COMPARED    WITH    THE    GEOLOGI- 
CAL DELUGES, ....        112 

LECTURE     V. 
THE  WORLD'S   SUPPOSED  ETERNITY, 146 

LECTURE     VI. 
GEOLOGICAL  PROOFS  OF  THE  DIVINE  BENEVOLENCE.         .        179 


XVI  CONTENTS. 


LECTURE     VII. 

Page 
DIVINE  BENEVOLENCE  AS  EXHIBITED  IN  A  FALLEN  WOKLD,  219 


LECTURE     VIII. 

UNITY  OF  THE  DIVINE  PLAN  AND  OPERATION  IN  ALL  AGES 
OF  THE  WORLD'S   HISTORY,  952 

LECTURE    IX. 
THE  HYPOTHESIS  OF  CREATION  BY  LAW,  ....       285 

LECTURE    X. 
SPECIAL  AND  MIRACULOUS  PROVIDENCE,  ....       327 

LECTURE    XI. 
THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  AND  DESTINY  OF  THE  EARTH,  370 

LECTURE    Xlt. 
THE  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM  OF  THE  UNIVERSE,       ...        409 

LECTURE    XIII. 
THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH, 445 


LECTURE    XIV. 

SCIENTIFIC      TRUTH,      RIGHTLY     APPLIED,     IS      RELIGIOUS 
TRUTH, 476 


THE 


RELIGION   OF   GEOLOGY 


LECTURE     I. 
REVELATION  ILLUSTRATED  BY  SCIENCE. 

The  leading  object,  which  I  propose  in  the  course  of  lec- 
tures which  I  now  commence,  is  to  develop  the  relations  be- 
tween geology  and  religion.  This  cannot  be  done  fully  and 
fairly,  however,  without  exhibiting  also  many  of  the  religious 
bearings  of  several  other  sciences.  I  shall,  therefore,  feel 
justified  in  drawing  illustrations  and  arguments  from  any 
department  of  human  knowledge  which  may  afford  them,  I 
place  geology  first  and  most  conspicuous  on  the  list,  because 
I  know  of  no  other  branch  of  physical  science  so  prolific  in 
its  religious  applications. 

In  treating  of  this  subject,  I  shall  first  exhibit  the  relations 
between  science  and  revealed  religion,  and  afterwards  be- 
tween science  and  natural  religion ;  though  in  a  few  cases 
these  two  great  branches  cannot  be  kept  entirely  distinct. 

Geology  is  usually  regarded  as  having  only  an  unfavorable 

bearing  upon  revealed   religion ;    and  writers  are   generally 

satisfied  if  they  can  reconcile  apparent  discrepancies.     But  I 

regard  this  eis  an  unfair  representation  ;  for  if  geology,  or  any 

1 


2  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

other  science,  proves  to  ns  that  we  have  not  fairly  understood 
the  meaning  of  any  passage  of  Scripture,  it  merely  illus- 
trates, but  does  not  oppose,  revelation. 

A  fundamental  principle  of  Protestant  Christianity  is,  that 
the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  are  the  only 
infallible  standard  of  religious  truth  ;  and  I  desire  to  hold  up 
this  principle  prominently  at  the  outset,  as  one  to  which  I 
cordially  subscribe.  The  mass  of  evidence  in  favor  of  the 
divine  inspiration  of  the  Bible  is  too  great  to  be  set  aside  by 
any  thing  short  of  scientific  demonstration.  Were  the  Scrip- 
tures to  teach  that  the  whole  is  not  equal  to  its  parts,  the 
mind  could  not,  indeed,  believe  it.  But  if  it  taught  a  truth 
which  was  only  contrary  to  the  probable  deductions  of  sci- 
ence, science,  I  say,  must  yield  to  Scripture  ;  for  it  would 
be  more  reasonable  to  doubt  the  probabilities  of  a  single  sci- 
ence, than  the  various  and  most  satisfactory  evidence  on 
which  revelation  rests.  I  do  not  believe  that  even  the  proba- 
bilities of  any  science  are  in  collision  with  Scripture.  But 
the  supposition  is  made  to  show  how  strong  are  my  convic- 
tions of  the  evidence  and  paramount  authority  of  the  Bible. 

But  does  it  follow,  from  these  positions,  that  science  can 
throw  no  light  upon  the  truths  of  Scripture  ?  By  no  means  ; 
and  it  will  be  my  leading  object,  in  this  lecture,  to  show  how 
this  may  be  done  by  science  in  general,  and  by  geology  in 
particular. 

In  discussing  this  subject,  we  ought  to  bear  in  mind  the  object 
of  science,  and  the  object  of  revelation.  And  by  the  term 
science  I  refer  mainly  to  physical  science.  Its  grand  aim  is, 
by  an  induction  from  facts,  to  discover  the  laws  by  which  the 
material  universe  is  governed.  Those  laws  do.  indeed,  lead 
the  mind  almost  necessarily  to  their  divine  Author.  But  this 
is  rather  the  incidental  than  the  direct  result  of  scientific 


OBJECT    OF    REVELATION.  8 

investigations,  and  belongs  rather  to  natural  theology  than 
to  natural  science. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  exclusive  object  of  revelation  is  of 
a  moral  character.  It  is  a  development  of  the  divine  char- 
acter and  the  divine  government ;  especially  that  part  of  it 
which  discloses  a  plan  for  the  reconciliation  of  a  lost  and 
wicked  world  to  the  favor  of  God  by  the  death  of  his  Son. 
Every  other  subject  mentioned  in  Scripture  is  incidental,  and 
would  not  have  been  noticed  had  it  not  some  connection  with 
the  plan  of  salvation.  The  creation  of  the  world  and  the 
Noachian  deluge,  for  instance,  are  intimately  related  to  the 
divine  character  and  government,  and  therefore  they  are 
described  ;  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  various  phenomena  of 
nature  which  are  touched  upon  in  the  Bible. 

If  these  positions  be  correct,  it  follows,  that  as  we  ought 
not  to  expect  to  find  the  doctrines  of  religion  in  treatises  on 
science,  so  it  is  unreasonable  to  look  for  the  principles  of  phi- 
losophy in  the  Bible.  Nay,  we  ought  not  to  expect  to  find 
the  terms  used  by  the  sacred  writers  employed  in  their  strict 
scientific  sense,  but  in  their  popular  acceptation.  Indeed,  as 
the  Scriptures  were  generally  addressed  to  men  in  the  earliest 
and  most  simple  states  of  society,  with  very  limited  views  of 
the  extent  of  creation,  we  ought  to  suppose  that,  in  all  cases 
where  no  new  fact  is  revealed,  the  language  was  adapted  to 
the  narrow  ideas  which  then  prevailed.  When,  for  instance, 
the  sacred  writers  speak  of  the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun, 
we  cannot  suppose  they  used  language  with  astronomical  cor- 
rectness, but  only  according  to  appearances.  Hence  we 
ought  not  to  be  very  confident,  that  when  they  employ  the 
term  earthy  they  meant  that  spherical,  vast  globe  which  as- 
tronomy proves  the  earth  to  be,  but  rather  that  part  of  it 
v.'hich  was  inhabited,  which  was  all  the  idea  that  entered  into 


4  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

the  mind  of  a  Jew.  God  might,  indeed,  have  revealed  new 
scientific  as  well  as  religious  truth.  But  there  is  no  evidence 
that  in  this  way  he  has  anticipated  a  single  modern  discovery. 
This  would  have  been  turning  aside  from  the  much  more 
important  object  he  had  in  view,  viz.,  to  teach  the  world  re- 
ligious truth.  Such  being  the  case,  the  language  employed 
to  describe  natural  phenomena  must  have  been  adapted  to 
the  state  of  knowledge  among  the  people  to  whom  the  Scrip- 
tures were  addressed. 

Another  inference  from  these  premises  is,  that  there  ntay 
be  an  apparent  contradiction  between  the  statements  of  sci- 
ence and  revelation.  Revelation  may  describe  phenomena 
according  to  apparent  truth,  as  when  it  speaks  of  the  rising 
and  setting  of  the  sun,  and  the  immobility  of  the  earth  ;  but 
science  describes  the  same  according  to  the  actual  truth,  as 
when  it  gives  a  real  motion  to  the  earth,  and  only  an  appar- 
ent motion  to  the  heavens.  Had  the  language  of  revelation 
been  scientifically  accurate,  it  would  have  defeated  the  object 
for  which  the  Scriptures  were  given  ;  for  it  must  have  antici- 
pated scientific  discovery,  and  therefore  have  been  unintelli- 
gible to  those  ignorant  of  such  discoveries.  Or  if  these  had 
been  explained  by  inspiration,  the  Bible  would  have  become 
a  text-book  in  natural  science,  rather  than  a  guide  to  eter- 
nal life. 

The  final  conclusion  from  these  principles  is,  that  since 
science  and  revelation  treat  of  the  same  subjects  only  inci- 
dentally, we  ought  only  to  expect  that  the  facts  of  science, 
rightly  understood,  should  not  contradict  the  statements  of 
revelation,  correctly  interpreted.  Apparent  discrepancies 
there  may  be  ;  and  it  would  not  be  strange,  if  for  a  time 
they  should  seem  to  be  real ;  either  because  science  has  not 
fully  and  accurately  disclosed   the  facts,  or  the  Bible  is  not 


HOW    TO    INTERPRET    THE    BIBLE.  '5 

correctly  interpreted  ;  but  if  both  records  are  from  God,  there 
can  be  no  real  contradiction  between  them.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  we  liave  no  reason  to  expect  any  remarkable  coinci- 
dences, because  the  general  subject  and  object  of  the  two 
records  are  so  unlike.  Should  such  coincidences  occur,  how- 
ever, they  will  render  it  less  probable  that  any  apparent  dis- 
agreement is  real. 

If  the  positions  taken  in  these  preliminary  remarks  be  cor- 
rect, it  will  follow,  that  in  judging  of  the  agreement  or  dis- 
agreement between  revelation  and  science,  it  is  important,  in 
the  first  place,  that  we  rightly  understand  the  Bible ;  and,  in 
the  second  place,  that  we  carefully  ascertain  what  are  the 
settled  and  demonstrated  principles  of  sciejice.  An  exami- 
nation of  these  points  will  constitute  the  remainder  of  this 
lecture. 

The  meaning  of  the  Scriptures  is  to  be  determined  in  the 
same  way  as  the  meaning  of  any  other  book  written  in  similar 
circumstances.  Its  inspiration  puts  no  bar  in  the  way  of  the 
most  rigid  application  of  the  rules  of  criticism,  nor  renders 
it  unnecessary  to  seek  for  light  in  whatever  quarter  it  can  be 
obtained.  The  rules  of  grammatical  and  rhetorical  construc- 
tion, the  study  of  contemporary  writers,  a  knowledge  of  the 
history,  customs,  opinions,  and  prejudices  of  the  times,  and 
other  circumstances  that  need  not  be  mentioned,  become  im- 
portant means  of  attaining  the  true  usus  loquendi,  or  princi- 
ple of  interpretation.  But  I  pass  by  all  these  on  the  present 
occasion,  because  no  one  doubts  their  importance  in  rightly 
understanding  the  Bible.  I  maintain  that  scientific  discov- 
eries furnish  us  with  another  means  of  its  correct  interpreta- 
tion, where  it  describes  natural  phenomena.  And  in  this 
position  we  shall  not  probably  find  an  entire  unanimity  of  opin- 
ion. Let  us,  therefore,  proceed  to  examine  its  truth. 
1* 


b  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

It  will  not  be  denied  that  modern  science  has  corrected  the 
opinions  of  men  in  regard  to  very  many  natural  phenomena. 
The  same  term  that  conveyed  one  idea  to  an  ancient  reader, 
or  hearer,  of  the  Bible,  often  conveys  an  opposite  meaning  to 
a  modern  ear.  And  yet  that  term  may  be  very  proper  to 
use  in  modern  times,  if  understood  to  express  only  apparent, 
and  not  real  truth.  The  Jew  understood  it  to  mean  the  latter ; 
and  it  would  seem  as  if  we  might  employ  modern  scientific 
discovery  to  enable  us  to  decide  in  which  sense  the  Bible  did 
use  the  term.  For  if  we  admit  the  Jew  to  have  been  correct 
in  his  interpretation,  then  we  bring  revelation  into  direct  col- 
lision with  the  demonstrations  of  physics. 

But  facts  are  vastly  more  satisfactory  in  deciding  this  ques-^ 
tion  than  reasoning,  and  I  shall  now  proceed  to  adduce  some 
examples  in  which  modern  scientific  discovery  has  thrown 
light  upon  the  meaning  of  the  Bible. 

For  one  or  two  examples  I  appeal  to  chemistry.  In  the 
book  of  Proverbs,  (chap.  25,  v.  20,)  we  find  it  said,  that  as 
vinegar  upon  nitre,  so  is  he  that  singeth  songs  to  a  heavy 
heart.  We  should  expect  from  this  statement  that  when  we 
put  vinegar  upon  what  we  call  nitre,  it  would  produce  some 
commotion  analogous  to  the  excitement  of  song-singing.  But 
we  should  try  the  experiment  in  vain ;  for  no  effect  whatever 
would  be  produced.  Again,  it  is  said  by  the  prophet  Jeremiah, 
(chap.  2,  v.  22,)  Though  thou  loash  thee  with  nitre,  and  take 
thee  much  soap,  yet  thine  iniquity  is  marked  before  me,  saith 
the  Lord.  Here,  too,  wo  should  expect  that  the  use  of  the 
nitre  would  increase  the  purifying  power  of  the  soap  ;  but 
the  experiment  would  prove  rather  the  reverse.  The  chemist, 
however,  informs  us  that  there  is  a  substance,  viz.,  the  carho' 
nate  of  soda,  which,  if  substituted  for  the  nitre,  would  effer- 
vesce with  vinegar,  and  aid  the  purifying  power  of  soap. 


CONFLAGRATION    OF    THE    EARTH.  7 

and  thus  strikingly  illustrate  the  thought  both  of  Solomon  and 
Jeremiah.  And  on  recurring  to  the  original,  we  find  that 
^n3  (nether,  nitrum^  natrum)  does  not  necessarily  mean 
the  salt  which  we  call  nitre,  but  rather  a  fossil  alkali,  the 
natron  of  the  ancients,  and  the  carbonate  of  soda  of  the 
moderns. 

It  is  probably  the  prevailing  opinion  among  intelligent  Chris- 
tians at  this  time,  and  has  been  the  opinion  of  many  commen- 
tators, that  when  Peter  describes  the  future  destruction  of  the 
world,  he  means  that  its  solid  substance,  and  indeed  that  of 
the  whole  material  universe,  will  be  utterly  consumed  or  an- 
nihilated by  fire.  This  opinion  rests  upon  the  common  belief 
that  such  is  the  effect  of  combustion.  But  chemistry  informs 
us,  that  no  case  of  combustion,  how  fiercely  soever  the  fire 
may  rage,  annihilates  the  least  particle  of  matter ;  and  that 
fire  only  changes  the  form  of  substances.  Nay,  there  is  no 
reason  whatever  to  suppose  that  one  particle  of  matter  has 
been  annihilated  since  the  world  began.  The  chemist  more- 
over asserts  that  all  the  solid  parts  of  the  globe  have  already 
undergone  combustion,  and  that  although  heat  may  melt  them, 
it  cannot  burn  them.  Nor  is  there  an;/  thing  upon  or  within 
the  earth  capable  of  combustion,  but  vegetables,  and  animals, 
and  a  few  gases.  Has  Peter,  then,  made  a  mistake  because 
he  did  not  understand  modern  chemistry  ?  We  have  only  to 
examine  his  language  carefully,  as  it  seems  to  me,  in  order 
to  be  satisfied  that  he  means  only,  that  whatsoever  upon,  or 
within,  the  earth,  is  combustible,  will  be  burned  up  at  the 
final  conflagration ;  and  that  the  whole  globe,  the  elements, 
tvill  melt  icith  fervent  heat.  He  nowhere  asserts,  or  implies, 
that  one  particle  of  matter  will  be  annihilated  by  that  catas- 
trophe. Thus  science,  instead  of  proving  his  statements  to  be 
erroneous,  only  enables  us  more  correctly  to  understand  them. 


8  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

Scarcely  any  truth  seems  more  clearly  taught  in  the  Bible 
than  the  future  resurrection  of  the  body.  Yet  this  doctrine 
has  always  been  met  by  a  most  formidable  objection.  It  is 
said  that  the  body  laid  in  the  grave  is  ere  long  decomposed 
into  its  elements,  which  are  scattered  over  the  face  of  the 
earth,  and  enter  into  new  combinations,  even  forming  a  part 
of  other  human  bodies.  Hence  not  even  Omnipotence  can 
raise  from  the  grave  the  identical  body  laid  there,  because 
the  particles  may  enter  successively  into  a  multitude  of  other 
human  bodies.  I  am  not  aware  that  any  successful  reply  has 
ever  been  given  to  this  objection,  until  chemistry  and  natural 
history  taught  us  the  true  nature  of  bodily  identity  ;  and  until 
recently  the  objector  has  felt  sure  that  he  had  triumphed.  But 
these  sciences  teach  us  that  the  identity  of  the  body  consists, 
not  in  a  sameness  of  particles,  but  in  the  same  kinds  of  ele- 
mentary matter,  combined  in  the  same  proportion,  and  having 
the  same  form  and  structure.  Hence  it  is  not  necessary  that 
the  resurrection  body  should  contain  a  single  particle  of  the 
matter  laid  in  the  grave,  in  order  to  be  the  same  body  ;  which 
it  will  be  if  it  consist  of  the  same  kinds  of  matter  combined 
in  the  same  proportions,  and  has  the  same  form  and  struc- 
ture. For  the  particles  of  our  bodies  are  often  totally  changed 
during  our  lives  ;  yet  no  one  imagines  that  the  old  man  has 
not  the  same  body  as  in  infancy.*     What  but  the  principles 

*  I  am  not  aware  that  this  reply  to  the  objection  ^A'as  ever  ad- 
vanced, till  the  publication,  by  myself,  last  year,  of  a  sermon  on  the 
Resurrections  of  Spring,  in  a  small  volume  of  sermons,  entitled  Re- 
ligious Lectures  on  some  peculiar  Phenomena  in  the  Four  Seasons. 
I  may  be  mistaken  ;  but  I  cannot  see  why  this  reply  does  not  com- 
pletely meet  the  difficulty,  and  free  an  important  doctrine  from  an 
incubus  under  -which  it  has  Ion"-  lain  half  smothered. 


IDENTITY    OF    THE    SPIRITUAL    BODY.  9 

of  science  could   have  thus  vindicated  a  precious  doctrine  of 
revelation  ? 

In  the  description  which  Paul  gives  of  the  spiritual  body, 
a  naturalist,  —  and  I  fancy  no  one  but  a  naturalist,  —  will 
discover  its  specific  identity.  By  this  I  mean  that  it  will  pos- 
sess peculiarities  that  distinguish  it  from  every  thing  else, 
but  which  are  so  closely  related  to  the  characteristics  of  the 
natural  body  in  this  world,  from  which  it  was  derived,  that 
one  acquainted  with  the  latter  would  recognize  the  former. 
Hence  the  Christian's  friends  in  another  world  may  be  recog- 
nized by  him  from  their  external  characters,  jus;  as  we  iden- 
tify the  plants  and  animals  of  spring  with  those  that  seemed 
to  perish  in  the  preceding  autumn.  There  is  neither  time 
nor  room  for  the  proof  of  this  exegesis,  which  is  founded 
chiefly  upon  the  principles  of  natural  history;  but  for  their 
elucidation,  I  must  refer  to  another  place.* 

I  take  my  next  example  from  meteorology.  It  was  the 
opinion  of  the  ancients  that  the  earth,  at  a  certain  height,  was 
surrounded  by  a  transparent  hollow  sphere  of  solid  matter, 
vv'hich  they  called  the  firmament.  When  rain  descended,  they 
supposed  it  was  through  windows,  or  holes,  made  in  this  crys- 
talline curtain  suspended  in  mid  heaven.  To  these  notions 
the  language  of  the  Bible  is  frequently  conformed.  In  the 
account  of  the  creation,  in  Genesis,  we  have  a  description  of 
the  formation  of  this  firmament,  and  how  it  divided  the  waters 
below  it,  viz.,  the  ocean,  lakes,  and  rivers,  from  the  waters 
above  it,  viz.,  the  clouds.  Again,  in  the  account  of  the 
deluge,  the  windows  of  heaven  are  said  to  have  been  opened. 


*  I  hope  it  is  not  vanity  to  say  that  this  subject,  also,  was  first 
suggested  in  the  sermon  referred  to  in  the  preceding  note.  If  correct, 
it  opens  an  animating  prospect  to  the  afflicted  Christian. 


10  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    EY    SCIENCE. 

But  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  that  meteorology  has  shown 
that  no  such  solid  firmament  exists  over  our  heads  ;  that,  in  fact, 
nothing  but  one  homogeneous,  transparent  atmosphere  encloses 
the  earth,  in  which  the  clouds  float  at  different  akitudes  at  differ- 
ent times.  Are  we,  then,  to  suppose  that  the  sacred  writers 
meant  to  teach  as  certain  truth,  the  fiction  of  a  solid  firmament ; 
or  that  on  this  subject  they  conformed  their  language  to  the  pre- 
vailing belief,  because  it  was  not  their  object  to  teach  philosophy, 
meaning  neither  to  assert  nor  to  deny  the  existence  of  a  solid 
firmament,  but  using  language  that  was  optically,  although 
not  physically,  correct,  and  which,  therefore,  conformed  to 
the  general  belief  ?  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  thing  but  sci- 
entific discovery  could  enable  us  to  decide  this  question.  But 
since  it  is  certain  that  the  solid  firmament  does  not  exist,  we 
must  admit  that  the  Bible  did  not  intend  to  teach  its  exist- 
ence, or  allow  it  to  teach  a  falsehood  ;  and  since  we  know 
that  it  does  often  speak,  in  natural  things,  according  to  appar- 
ent, and  not  real  truth,  it  is  most  reasonable  to  give  such  a 
construction  to  its  language  in  the  present  instance. 

But  the  most  decisive  example  I  have  to  give  on  this  sub- 
ject is  derived  from  astronomy.  Until  the  time  of  Copernicus, 
no  opinion  respecting  natural  phenomena  was  thought  more 
firmly  established,  than  that  the  earth  is  fixed  immovably 
in  the  centre  of  the  universe,  and  that  the  heavenly  bodies 
move  diurnally  around  it.  To  sustain  this  view,  the  most 
decided  language  of  Scripture  could  be  quoted.  God  is  there 
said  to  have  estahlished  the  foundations  of  the  earthy  so  that 
they  could  not  he  removed  forever  ;  and  the  sacred  writers 
expressly  declare  that  the  sun  and  other  heavenly  bodies  arise 
and  se^,and  nowhere  allude  to  any  proper  motion  in  the  earth. 
And  those  statements  corresponded  exactly  to  the  testimony 
of  the  senses.     Men  felt  the  earth  to  be  immovably  firm  under 


THE    ASTRONOMICAL    HERESY.  11 

their  feet,  and  when  they  looked  up,  they  saw  the  heavenly 
bodies  in  motion.  What  bold  impiety,  therefore,  did  it  seem, 
even  to  men  of  liberal  and  enlightened  minds,  for  any  one  to 
rise  up  and  assert  that  all  this  testimony  of  the  Bible  and  of 
the  senses  was  to  be  set  aside  !  It  is  easy  to  conceive  with 
what  strong  jealousy  the  friends  of  the  Bible  would  look  upon 
the  new  science  which  was  thus  arraying  itself  in  bold  defi- 
ance of  inspiration,  and  how  its  votaries  would  be  branded  as 
infidels  in  disguise.  We  need  not  resort  to  Catholic  intoler- 
ance to  explain  how  it  was,  that  the  new  doctrine  of  the  earth's 
motion  should  be  denounced  as  the  most  fatal  heresy,  as  alike 
contrary  to  Scripture  and  sound  philosophy,  and  that  even  the 
venerable  Galileo  should  be  forced  to  recant  it  upon  his  knees. 
What  though  the  astronomer  stood  ready  with  his  diagrams 
and  formulas  to  demonstrate  the  motion  of  the  earth  ;  who 
would  calmly  and  impartially  examine  the  claims  of  a  sci- 
entific discovery,  which,  by  its  very  announcement,  threw 
discredit  upon  the  Bible  and  the  senses,  and  contradicted  the 
unanimous  opinion  of  the  wise  and  good,  —  of  all  mankind, 
indeed,  —  through  all  past  centuries  ?  Rather  would  the  dis- 
tinguished theologians  of  the  day  set  their  ingenuity  at  work 
to  frame  an  argument  in  opposition  to  the  dangerous  neology, 
that  should  fall  upon  it  like  an  avalanche,  and  grind  it  to  pow- 
der. And  to  show  you  how  firm  and  irresistible  such  an  ar- 
gument would  seem,  we  need  no  longer  tax  the  imagination  ; 
for  Francis  Turretin,  a  distinguished  Protestant  professor  of 
theology,  whose  writings  have  even  to  the  present  day  sus- 
tained no  mean  reputation,  has  left  us  an  argument  on  the 
subject,  compacted  and  arranged  according  to  the  nicest  rules 
of  logic,  and  which  he  supposed  would  stand  unrefuted  as 
long  as  the  authority  of  the  Bible  should  be  regarded  among 
men.     He   propounds  the  inquiry,   "  Do  the  sun  and   moon 


12  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

move  in  the  heavens  and  revolve  around  the  earth,  while  the 
earth  remains  at  rest  ?  "  This  he  affirms,  "  in  opposition  to 
certain  philosophers,"  and  sustains  his  position  by  the  follow- 
ing arguments :  "  First.  The  sun  is  said  [in  Scripture]  to 
move  in  the  heavens,  and  to  rise  and  set.  (Ps.  19,  v.  5.) 
The  sun  is  as  a  hridegr^oom  commg  out  of  his  chamher,  and 
rejoicetli  as  a  strong  man  to  run  a  race.  (Ps.  104,  v.  19.) 
The  sun  knowcth  his  going  down.  (Eccles.  1,  v.  5.)  The 
sun  also  ariseth,  and  the  sun  goeth  down.  Secondly.  The 
sun,  by  a  miracle,  stood  still  in  the  time  of  Joshua.  (Joshua, 
ch.  10,  V.  12,  13,  14,)  and  by  a  miracle  it  went  back  in  the 
time  of  Hezekiah.  (Isa.  ch.  88,  v.  8.)  Thirdly.  The  earth  is 
said  to  he  fixed  immovably.  (Ps.  93,  v.  1.)  The  world  also  is 
established,  that  it  cannot  he  moved.  (Ps.  104,  v.  5.)  WJic 
laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth,  that  it  should  not  he  removci 
forever.  (Ps.  119,  v.  90,  91.)  Thou  hast  established  tM 
earth,  and  it  ahideth.  They  coritinue  this  day  according  to 
thine  ordinances.  Fourthly.  Neither  could  birds,  which  often 
fly  off  through  an  hour's  circuit,  be  able  to  return  to  their 
nests ;  for  in  the  mean  time  the  earth  would  move  four  hun- 
dred and  fifty  of  our  m.iles.  Fifthly.  Whatever  flies  or  is 
suspended  in  the  air  ought  [by  this  theory]  to  move  from  west 
to  east ;  but  this  is  proved  not  to  be  true  from  birds,  arrows 
shot  forth,  atoms  made  manifest  in  the  sun,  and  dowm  floating 
in  the  atmosphere." 

If  it  be  replied  to  this  reasoning  that  the  Scripture,  in  nat- 
ural things,  speaks  according  to  the  common  opinion,  Turretin 
answers,  "  First,  that  the  spirit  of  God  best  understands  nat- 
ural things  ;  secondly,  that,  in  giving  instruction  in  religion,  he 
meant  these  things  should  be  used,  not  abused  ;  thirdly,  that 
he  is  not  the  author  of  any  error  ;  fourthly,  neither  is  iie  to 
be  corrected  on  this  pretence  by  our  blind  reason." 


ASTRONOMY    RECONCILED    TO    THE    BIBLE.  13 

If  it  be  replied  that  birds,  the  air,  and  all  things  are  moved 
with  the  earth,  he  answers,  "  First,  that  this  is  a  mere  fiction, 
since  air  is  a  fluid  body  ;  and  secondly,  if  so,  by  what  force 
would  birds  be  able  to  go  from  east  to  west."  —  Coinpendium 
Theologicce  Didactico-Elencticce,  (Amsterdam,  1695.) 

In  the  present  state  of  knowledge  we  may  smile  at  some 
of  these  arguments  ;  but  to  men  who  had  been  taught  to  be- 
lieve, as  in  a  self-evident  principle,  that  the  earth  was  immo- 
vable and  the  heavenly  bodies  in  motion,  the  most  of  them 
must  have  been  entirely  satisfactory  ;  and  especially  must  the 
Scriptures  have  seemed  in  point  blank  opposition  to  the  astro- 
nomical heresy.  What,  then,  has  so  completely  annihilated 
this  argument,  that  now  the  merest  schoolboy  would  be 
ashamed  to  advocate  it  ?  The  clear  demonstrations  of  sci- 
ence have  done  it.  Not  only  has  the  motion  of  the  earth 
been  established,  but  it  has  been  made  equally  obvious  that 
this  truth  is  in  entire  harmony  with  the  language  of  Scripture  ; 
so  that  neither  the  infidel  nor  the  Christian  ever  suspect,  on 
this  ground,  any  collision  between  the  two  records.  So  soon 
as  the  philologist  perceived  that  there  was  no  escape  from  the 
astronomical  demonstration,  he  was  led  to  reexamine  his  in- 
terpretation of  Scripture,  and  found  that  the  whole  difficulty 
lay  in  his  assuming  that  the  sacred  writers  intended  to  teach 
scientific  instead  of  popular  truth.  Only  admitting  that  they 
spoke  of  astronomical  phenomena,  according  to  appearances 
and  in  conformity  to  common  opinion,  and  their  language  be- 
came perfectly  proper.  It  conveyed  no  error,  and  is  in  fact 
as  well  adapted  now  as  ever  to  the  common  intercourse  of 
life.  Yet,  in  consequence  of  the  scientific  discovery,  that 
language  conveys  quite  a  different  meaning  to  our  minds  from 
what  it  did  to  those  who  supposed  it  to  teach  a  scientific  truth. 
2 


14  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED   BY    SCIENCE. 

Hence  it  strikingly  illustrates  the  value  of  scientific  discovery 
in  enabling  us  rightly  to  understand  the  Bible. 

Is  it  necessary  to  quote  any  more  examples  to  establish  the 
principle  that  scientific  discovery  is  one  of  the  means  which  the 
philologist  should  employ  in  the  interpretation  of  Scripture  ? 
And  if  the  principle  has  been  found  of  service  in  chemistry, 
meteorology,  and  astronomy,  why  should  it  be  neglected  in  the 
case  of  geology  ?  Why  should  not  this  science  also,  which 
has  probably  more  important  religious  bearings  than  any  other, 
be  appealed  to  in  illustration  of  the  meaning  of  Scripture, 
when  phenomena  are  described  of  which  geology  takes  cog- 
nizance ?  I  know  that  some  will  reply,  that  the  principles  of 
geology  are  yet  too  unsettled  to  be  allowed  to  modify  the  in- 
terpretation of  the  Bible.  This  brings  me  to  the  second  part 
of  my  subject,  in  which  I  am  to  inquire  whether  the  prin- 
ciples of  physical  science,  and  of  geology  in  particular,  are 
so  far  settled  that  we  can  feel  ourselves  upon  firm  ground  as 
we  compare  them  with  the  principles  of  revelation. 

Before  proceeding  to  this  part  of  the  subject,  however,  I 
must  pause  a  moment,  in  order  to  point  out  another  mode,  in 
which  science  may  contribute  to  elucidate  Scripture.  In  the 
way  just  described,  it  may  enable  the  interpreter  more  cor- 
rectly to  understand  the  language,  but  it  may  also  give  a  fuller 
illustration  to  the  sentiments  of  the  Bible.  Revelation,  for 
instance,  represents  God  as  benevolent.  Now,  if  we  can  de- 
rive from  the  records  of  geology  striking  and  hitherto  un- 
thought-of  manifestations  of  this  attribute,  we  shall  make  the 
doctrine  of  Scripture  more  impressive  ;  or,  if  we  appeal  to 
the  numerous  changes  which  the  earth  has  undergone,  and 
the  vast  periods  which  they  have  occupied,  we  find  that  the 
unsearchableness  of  divine  wisdom,  and  the  vastness  of  the 
divine  plans,  are  brought  more  vividly  before  the   mind,  and 


THE    SETTLED    PRINCIPLES    OF    SCIENCE.  15 

task  its  power  of  comprehension  more  than  illustrations  from 
any  other  quarter.  In  short,  the  principles  of  religion  that 
derive  important  elucidation  from  science,  and  especially  from 
geology,  are  very  numerous,  as  I  hope  to  show  in  subsequent 
lectures.  But  I  now  return  to  the  inquiry,  whether  the  prin- 
ciples of  science,  and  especially  of  geology,  are  so  well  set- 
tled that  we  can  employ  them  in  this  manner. 

As  to  the  more  mathematical  sciences,  there  will  be  no  one 
to  doubt  but  some  of  their  principles  must  be  admitted  as 
infallible  truth  ;  for  our  minds  are  so  constituted  that  they  are 
incapable  of  resisting  a  fair  presentation  of  mathematical 
demonstration.  Now,  there  is  scarcely  any  physical  science 
that  is  not  based  more  or  less  upon  mathematical  truth  ;  and 
as  to  the  facts  in  those  sciences,  some  of  them  are  so  multi- 
plied, and  speak  so  uniformly  the  same  language,  that  we 
doubt  them  no  more  than  we  do  a  mathematical  demonstra- 
tion. Other  classes  of  facts  are  less  decided  ;  and  in  some 
cases  they  are  so  insulated  as  to  be  regarded  as  anomalies,  to 
be  set  aside  until  better  understood.  The  same  grades  of 
certainty  exist  in  respect  to  inferences  from  the  facts  of  sci- 
ence. Some  theories  are  scarcely  less  doubtful  than  mathe- 
matics ;  others  are  as  strong  as  probable  reasoning  can  make 
them  ;  and  others  are  merely  plausible.  Hypotheses  are  still 
less  to  be  trusted,  though  sometimes  extremely  probable. 

Now,  most  of  the  physical  sciences  embrace  facts,  theories, 
and  hypotheses,  that  range  widely  along  the  scale  of  proba- 
bility, from  decided  demonstration  to  ingenious  conjecture.  It 
is  easy,  however,  in  genera?,  to  distinguish  the  demonstrated 
and  the  permanent  from  the  conjectural  and  the  fanciful ;  and 
when  we  bring  the  principles  of  any  science  into  com.parison 
with  religion,  it  is  chiefly  the  former  that  should  be  consid- 
ered, although  scientific  hypothesis  may  sometimes  be  made 


16  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

to  illustrate  religious  hypothesis.  But,  passing  by  all  other 
sciences,  it  is  my  desire  to  present  before  you,  on  this  occasion, 
the  claims  of  geology,  as  having  fundamental  principles  so 
well  settled  that  they  claim  attention  from  the  interpreter  of 
the  Bible.  I  ought,  however,  to  remark,  that  there  exists  a 
strange  jealousy  of  this  science  even  among  intelligent  men  ; 
a  suspicion  that  its  votaries  have  jumped  at  strange  and  dan- 
gerous conclusions  through  the  influence  of  hypothesis,  and 
that  in  fact  the  whole  science  is  little  else  but  hypothesis,  and 
that  there  is  almost  no  agreement  even  among  its  ablest  cul- 
tivators. It  is  indeed  a  comparatively  recent  science,  and  its 
remarkable  developments  have  succeeded  one  another  so  rap- 
idly, as  to  leave  men  in  doubt  whether  it  would  not  prove  a 
dazzling  meteor,  instead  of  a  steady  and  permanent  luminary. 
When  the  men  who  are  now  in  the  full  maturity  of  judgment 
and  reason,  (and  whose  favorable  opinion  I  am,  therefore, 
anxious  above  that  of  all  others  to  secure,)  when  these  were 
young,  geology  did  not  constitute  a  branch  of  finished  educa- 
tion ;  and  amid  the  pressure  of  the  cares  and  duties  of  middle 
life,  how  few  find  the  leisure,  to  say  nothing  of  the  disposi- 
tion, carefully  to  investigate  a  new  and  extensive  science  ! 
Even  though  younger  men  should  be  found  standing  forth  as 
the  advocates  of  geology,  yet  how  natural  for  those  more  ad- 
vanced to  impute  this  to  the  ardor  and  love  of  novelty,  char- 
acteristic of  youth  ! 

There  is  another  difficulty,  in  relation  to  this  subject,  that 
embarrasses  me.  It  is  not  even  yet  generally  understood  that 
geology  is  a  branch  of  knowledge  which  requires  long  and 
careful  study  fully  to  understand ;  that  a  previous  knowledge 
of  many  other  sciences  is  indispensable  in  order  to  compre- 
hend its  reasonings  ;  that  its  reasonings  are  in  fact,  for  the 
most  part,  to  be  mastered  only  by  long  and  patient  considera- 


ATTACKS  UPON  GEOLOGY.  17 

tion ;  and  finally,  and  more  especially,  that  they  will  appear 
inconclusive  and  feeble,  unless  a  man  has  become  somewhat 
familiar  with  specimens  of  rocks  and  fossils,  and  has  exam- 
ined strata  as  they  lie  in  the  earth.  How  very  imperfect  must 
be  the  most  intelligent  man's  knowledge  of  botany,  who  had 
never  examined  any  plants ;  or  of  chemistry,  who  had  not 
seen  any  of  the  simple  substances,  nor  experiments  upon  them 
in  the  laboratory  ;  or  of  crystallography,  whose  eyes  had  per- 
haps never  rested  upon  a  crystal.  No  less  important  is  it 
that  he,  who  would  reason  correctly  about  rocks  and  their 
organic  contents,  should  have  studied  rocks.  But  upon  such  an 
amount  of  knowledge  it  is  no  disparagement  to  say  we  have 
no  right  to  presume  in  all,  even  of  publicly  educated  men. 
Before  such  a  state  of  preparation  can  exist,  it  is  necessary 
that  practical  geology,  at  least,  should  be  introduced  into  our 
schools  of  every  grade,  as  it  might  be  with  great  success. 

It  ought  to  be  mentioned,  in  this  connection,  that,  within  a 
few  years  past,  geology  has  experienced  several  severe  attacks 
of  a  peculiar  character.  Men  of  respectable  ability,  and  de- 
cided friends  of  revelation,  having  got  fully  impressed  with 
the  belief  that  the  views  of  geologists  are  hostile  to  the  Bible, 
have  set  themselves  to  an  examination  of  their  writings,  not 
so  much  with  a  view  of  understanding  the  subject,  as  of  find- 
ing contradictions  and  untenable  positions.  The  next  step 
has  been  to  write  a  book  against  geology,  abounding,  as  we 
might  expect  from  men  of  warm  temperament,  of  such  preju- 
dices, and  without  a  .practical  knowledge  of  geology,  with 
striking  misapprehensions  of  facts  and  opinions,  with  positive 
and  dogmatic  assertions,  with  severe  personal  insinuations, 
great  ignorance  of  correct  reasoning  in  geology,  and  the  sub- 
stitution of  wild  and  extravagant  hypotheses  for  geological 
theories. 

2* 


18  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

Hence  English  literature  has  been  prolific  of  such  works  as 
"  A  Comparative  Estimate  of  the  Mineral  and  Mosaic  Geolo- 
gies," by  Granville  Penn  ;  the  '*  Geology  of  Scripture,"  by 
Fairholme  ;  '*  Scriptural  Geology,"  by  Dr.  Young  ;  ''  Popular 
Geology  subversive  of  Divine  Revelation,"  by  Rev.  Henry 
Cole  ;  "  Strictures  on  Geology  and  Astronomy,"  by  Rev.  R. 
Wilson  ;  "  Scripture  Evidences  of  Creation,  and  Geology,  and 
Scripture  Cosmogony,"  by  anonymous  authors ;  and  many 
other  similar  productions  that  might  be  named.  The  warm 
zeal  displayed,  and  doubtless  felt,  by  these  writers  for  the 
Bible  ;  their  familiar  reference  to  eminent  geological  authors, 
as  if  they  understood  them ;  the  skill  in  philology,  which  they 
frequently  exhibit ;  and  the  want  of  a  wide-spread  and  accu- 
rate knowledge  of  geology  in  the  community, —  have  given  to 
these  works  a  far  more  extensive  circulation  than  those  works 
have  had,  which  view  geology  as  illustrating  and  not  opposing 
revelation.  Foremost  among  these  is  the  lectures  of  the  ven- 
erable and  learned  Dr.  John  Pye  Smith,  late  principal  of  the 
Homerton  Divinity  College,  London,  "  On  the  Relations  be- 
tween the  Holy  Scriptures  and  some  Parts  of  Geological 
Science."  *  This  work,  the  result  of  long  and  patient  re- 
search, and  emanating  from  a  man  of  eminent  piety  as  well 
as  learning,  affords  a  full  refutation  of  all  the  works  that  have 
been  named,  and  in  the  kindness  and  candor  of  its  spirit  ex- 
hibits a  fine  contrast  to  their  intolerance  and  dogmatism.  In 
the  profound  works  of  Dr.  Harris,  entitled  "  The  Pre-Adamite 
Earth,"  and  "  Man  Primeval,"  the  connections  of  geology 
and  revelation  are  briefly  but  ably  treated,  and  also  its  con- 
nection with  natural   religion.      Quite   recently,  a  small  and 

*  The  first  edition  of  this  work  was  republished  in  this  country. 
In  England  it  has  reached  the  fifth  edition,  much  enlarged. 


GEOLOGY   DEFENDED.  19 

more  popular  work  on  this  subject  has  been  published  by- 
Rev.  David  King,  LL.  D.,  of  Glasgow,  well  worthy  of  atten- 
tion. "  The  Course  of  Creation,"  by  Rev.  John  Anderson, D.  D. 
of  recent  publication,  displays  much  learning  and  candor. 
But  the  causes  that  have  been  mentioned  have  secured  a  much 
wider  circulation  for  the  class  of  works  first  named,  than  for 
the  latter,  among  the  religious  community  generally.  The 
consequence  is,  that  the  public  mind  is  possessed  of  many 
prejudices  unfavorable  to  the  religious  bearings  of  geology, 
and  unfavorable  to  an  impartial  examination  of  its  claims. 

Under  these  circumstances,  all  that  I  can  do  is  to  state  defi- 
nitely what  I  apprehend  to  be  the  established  principles  of 
the  science  that  have  a  bearing  upon  religious  truth,  and  refer 
my  hearers  to  standard  works  on  the  subject  for  the  proof 
that  they  are  true.  If  any  will  not  take  the  trouble  to  exam- 
ine the  proofs,  I  trust  they  will  have  candor  and  impartiality 
enough  not  to  deny  my  positions. 

The  first  important  conclusion,  to  which  every  careful  ob- 
server will  come,  is,  that  the  rocks  of  all  sorts,  which  compose 
the  present  crust  of  the  globe,  so  far  as  it  has  been  explored, 
at  least  to  the  depth  of  several  miles,  appear  to  have  been 
the  result  of  second  causes  ;  that  is,  they  are  now  in  a  differ- 
ent state  from  that  in  which  they  were  originally  created. 

It  is  indeed  a  favorite  idea  with  some,  that  all  the  rocks  and 
their  contents  were  created  just  as  we  now  meet  them,  in  a 
moment  of  time  ;  that  the  supposed  remains  of  animals  and 
plants,  which  many  of  them  contain,  and  which  occur  in  all 
states,  from  an  animal  or  plant  little  changed,  to  a  complete 
conversion  into  stone,  were  never  real  animals  and  plants,  but 
only  resemblances  ;  and  that  the  marks  of  fusion  and  of  the 
wearing  of  water,  exhibited  by  the  rocks,  are  not  to  be  taken 
as  evidences  that  they  have   undergone  such    processes,  but 


20  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

only  that  it  has  pleased  God  to  give  them  that  appearance  ; 
and  that  in  fact  it  was  as  easy  for  God  to  create  them  just  as 
they  now  are  as  in  any  other  form. 

It  is  a  presumption  against  such  a  supposition,  that  no  men, 
who  have  carefully  examined  rocks  and  organic  remains,  are 
its  advocates.  Not  that  they  doubt  the  power  of  God  to  pro- 
duce such  effects,  but  they  deny  the  probability  that  He  has 
exerted  it  in  this  manner  ;  for  throughout  nature,  wherever 
they  have  an  opportunity  to  witness  her  operations,  they  find 
that  when  substances  appear  to  have  undergone  changes,  by 
means  of  secondary  agencies,  they  have  in  fact  undergone 
them  ;  and,  therefore,  the  whole  analogy  of  nature  goes  to 
prove  that  the  rocks  have  experienced  great  changes  since 
their  deposition.  If  rocks  are  an  exception  to  the  rest  of 
nature,  —  that  is,  if  they  are  the  effect  of  miraculous  agency, 
—  there  is  no  proof  of  it ;  and  to  admit  it  without  proof  is  to 
destroy  all  grounds  of  analogical  reasoning  in  natural  opera- 
tions ;  in  other  words,  it  is  to  remove  the  entire  basis  of  rea- 
soning in  physical  science.  Every  reasonable  man,  therefore, 
who  has  examined  rocks,  will  admit  that  they  have  undergone 
important  changes  since  their  original  formation. 

In  the  second  place,  the  same  general  laws  appear  to  have 
always  prevailed  on  the  globe,  and  to  have  controlled  the 
changes  which  have  taken  place  upon  and  within  it.  We 
come  to  no  spot,  in  the  history  of  the  rocks,  in  which  a  system 
different  from  that  which  now  prevails  appears  to  have  ex- 
isted. Great  peculiarities  in  the  structure  of  animals  and 
plants  do  indeed  occur,  as  well  as  changes  on  a  scale  of 
magnitude  unknown  at  present ;  but  this  was  only  a  wise 
adaptation  to  peculiar  circumstances,  and  not  an  infringement 
of  the  general  laws. 

In  the  third  place,  the  geological  changes  which  the  earth 


SETTLED    PRINCIPLES    OF    GEOLOGY.  21 

has  undergone,  and  is  now  undergoing,  appear  to  have  been 
the  result  of  the  same  agencies,  viz.,  heat  and  water. 

Fourthly.  It  is  demonstrated  that  the  present  continents  of 
the  globe,  with  perhaps  the  exception  of  some  of  their  highest 
mountains,  have  for  a  long  period  constituted  the  bottom  of 
the  ocean,  and  have  been  subsequently  either  elevated  into 
their  present  position,  or  the  waters  have  been  drained  off 
from  their  surface.  This  is  probably  the  most  important  prin- 
ciple in  geology  ;  and  though  regarded  with  much  scepticism 
by  many,  it  is  as  satisfactorily  proved  as  any  principle  of 
physical  science  not  resting  on  mathematical  demonstration. 

Fifthly.  The  internal  parts  of  the  earth  are  found  to  pos- 
sess a  very  high  temperature  ;  nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  at 
least  oceans  of  melted  matter  exist  beneath  the  crust,  and 
perhaps  even  all  the  deep-seated  interior  is  in  a  state  of  fusion. 

Sixthly.  The  fossiliferous  rocks,  or  such  as  contain  ani- 
mals and  plants,  are  not  less  than  six  or  seven  miles  in  per- 
pendicular thickness,  and  are  composed  of  hundreds  of  alter- 
nating layers  of  different  kinds,  all  of  which  appear  to  have 
been  deposited,  just  as  rocks  are  now  forming,  at  the  bottom 
of  lakes  and  seas  ;  and  hence  their  deposition  must  have  occu- 
pied an  immense  period  of  time.  Even  if  we  admit  that  this 
deposition  went  on  in  particular  places  much  faster  than  at 
present,  a  variety  of  facts  forbids  the  supposition  that  this  was 
the  general  mode  of  their  formation. 

Seventhly.  The  remains  of  animals  and  plants  found  in 
the  earth  are  not  mingled  confusedly  together,  but  are  found 
arranged,  for  the  most  part,  in  as  much  order  as  the  drawers 
of  a  well-regulated  cabinet.  In  general,  they  appear  to  have 
lived  and  died  on  or  near  the  spots  where  they  are  now  found  ; 
and  as  countless  millions  of  these  remains  are  often  found 
piled  together,  so  as  to  form  almost  entire   mountains,  the 


23  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

periods  requisite  for  their  formation  must  have  been  immensely 
long,  as  was  taught  in  the  preceding  proposition. 

Eighthly.  Still  further  confirmation  of  the  same  important 
principle  is  found  in  the  well-established  fact,  that  there 
have  been  upon  the  globe,  previous  to  the  existing  races, 
not  less  than  five  distinct  periods  of  organized  existence  ; 
that  is,  five  great  groups  of  animals  and  plants,  so  com- 
pletely independent  that  no  species  whatever  is  found  in  more 
than  one  of  them,  have  lived  and  successively  passed  away 
before  the  creation  of  the  races  that  now  occupy  the  surface. 
Other  standard  writers  make  the  number  of  these  periods  of 
existence  as  many  as  twelve.  Comparative  anatomy  testifies 
that  so  unlike  in  structure  were  these  different  groups,  that 
they  could  not  have  coexisted  in  the  same  climate  and  other 
external  circumstances. 

Ninthly.  In  the  earliest  times  in  which  animals  and  plants 
lived,  the  climate  over  the  whole  globe  appears  to  have  been 
as  warm  as,  or  even  warmer  than,  it  is  now  between  the 
tropics.  And  the  slow  change  from  warmer  to  colder  appears 
to  have  been  the  chief  cause  of  the  successive  destruction  of 
the  different  races  ;  and  new  ones  were  created,  better  adapted 
to  the  altered  condition  of  the  globe  ;  and  yet  each  group  seems 
to  have  occupied  the  globe  through  a  period  of  great  length, 
so  that  we  have  here  another  evidence  of  the  vast  cycles  of 
duration  that  must  have  rolled  away  even  since  the  earth  be- 
came a  habitable  globe. 

Tenthly.  There  is  no  small  reason  to  suppose  that  the  globe 
underwent  numerous  changes  previous  to  the  time  when  ani- 
mals were  placed  upon  it ;  that,  in  fact,  the  time  was  when  the 
whole  matter  of  the  earth  was  in  a  melted  state,  and  not  im- 
probably also  even  in  a  gaseous  state.  These  points,  indeed, 
are   not  as  well  established   as  the  others  that  have  been 


SETTLED    PRINCIPLES    OF    GEOLOGY.  23 

mentioned  ;  but,  if  admitted,  they  give  to  the  globe  an  incal- 
culable antiquity. 

Eleventhly.  It  appears  that  the  present  condition  of  the 
earth's  crust  and  surface  was  of  comparatively  recent  com- 
mencement ;  otherwise  the  steep  flanks  of  mountains  would 
have  ceased  to  crumble  down,  and  wide  oceans  would  have 
been  filled  with  alluvial  deposits. 

Twelfthly.  Among  the  thirty  thousand  species  of  animals 
and  plants  found  in  the  rocks,*  very  few  living  species  have 
been  detected ;  and  even  these  few  occur  in  the  most  re- 
cent rocks,  while  in  the  secondary  group,  not  less  than  six 
miles  thick,  not  a  single  species  now  on  the  globe  has 
been  discovered.  Hence  the  present  races  did  not  exist  till 
after  those  in  the  secondary  rocks  had  died.  No  human 
remains  have  been  foimd  below  those  alluvial  deposits  which 
are  now  forming  by  rivers,  lakes,  and  the  ocean.  Hence 
geology  infers  that  man  was  one  of  the  latest  animals  that 
was  placed  on  the  globe. 

Thirteenthly.  The  surface  of  the  earth  has  undergone  an 
enormous  amount  of  erosion  by  the  action  of  the  ocean,  the 
rivers,  and  the  atmosphere.  The  ocean  has  worn  away  the 
solid  rock,  in  some  parts  of  the  world,  not  less  than  ten  thou- 
sand feet  in  depth,  and  rivers  have  cut  channels  through  the 
hardest  strata,  hundreds  of  feet  deep  and  several  miles  long  ; 
both  of  which  effects  demand  periods  inconceivably  long. 

Fourteenthly.  At  a  comparatively  recent  date,  northern 
and  southern  regions  have  been  swept  over  and  worn  down 
by  the    joint  action  of  ice   and  water,  the   force   in  general 

*  Two  or  three  years  since  Professor  Bronn  described  twenty-six 
thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy- eight  species ;  and,  upon  an  aver- 
age, one  thousand  species  are  discovered  every  year.  M.  Alcide 
D'Orbigny,  in  1850,  stated  the  number  of  mollusks  and  radiated  ani- 
mals alone  at  seventeen  thousand  nine  hundred  and  forty-seven  species. 


^^  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

having  been  directed  towards  the  equator.  This  is  called  the 
drift  period. 

Fifteenthly.  Since  the  drift  period,  the  ocean  has  stood 
some  thousands  of  feet  above  its  present  level  in  many- 
countries. 

Sixteenthly.  There  is  evidence,  in  regard  to  some  parts  of 
the  world,  that  the  continents  are  now  experiencing  slow  ver- 
tical movements  —  some  places  sinking,  and  others  rising. 
And  hence  a  presumption  is  derived  that,  in  early  times,  such 
changes  may  have  been  often  repeated,  and  on  a  great  scale. 

Seventeenthly.  Every  successive  change  of  importance  on 
the  earth's  surface  appears  to  have  been  an  improvement  of 
its  condition,  adapting  it  to  beings  of  a  higher  organization, 
and  to  man  at  last,  the  most  perfect  of  all. 

Finally.  The  present  races  of  animals  and  plants  on  the 
globe  are  for  the  most  part  disposed  in  groups,  occupying  par- 
ticular districts,  beyond  whose  limits  the  species  peculiar  to 
those  provinces  usually  droop  and  die.  The  same  is  true,  to 
some  extent,  as  to  the  animals  and  plants  found  in  the  rocks ; 
though  the  much  greater  uniformity  of  climate,  that  prevailed 
in  early  times,  permitted  organized  beings  to  take  a  much 
wider  range  than  at  present ;  so  that  the  zoological  and  bo- 
tanical districts  were  then  probably  much  wider.  But  the 
general  conclusion,  in  respect  to  living  and  extinct  animals,  is, 
that  there  must  have  been  several  centres  of  creation,  from 
which  they  emigrated  as  far  as  their  natures  would  allow  them 
to  range. 

It  would  be  easy  to  state  more  principles  of  geology  of  con- 
siderable importance  ;  but  I  have  now  named  the  principal 
ones  that  bear  upon  the  subject  of  religion.  A  brief  state- 
ment of  the  leading  truths  of  theology,  whether  natural  or 
revealed,  which  these  principles  affect,  and  on  which  they 


RELIGIOUS    RELATIONS    OF    GEOLOGY.  25 

cast  light,  will  give  an  idea  of  the  subjects  which  I  propose  to 
discuss  in  these  lectures. 

The  first  point  relates  to  the  age  of  the  world.  For  while 
it  has  been  the  usual  interpretation  of  the  Mosaic  account,  that 
the  world  was  brought  into  existence  nearly  at  the  same  time 
with  man  and  the  other  existing  animals,  geology  throws  back 
its  creation  to  a  period  indefinitely  but  immeasurably  remote. 
The  question  is  not  whether  man  has  existed  on  the  globe 
longer  than  the  common  interpretation  of  Genesis  requires, — 
for  here  geology  and  the  Bible  speak  the  same  language,  — 
but  whether  the  globe  itself  did  not  exist  long  before  his  cre- 
ation ;  that  is,  long  before  the  six  days'  work,  so  definitely 
described  in  the  Mosaic  account  ?  In  other  words,  is  not  this 
a  case  in  which  the  discoveries  of  science  enable  us  more 
accurately  to  understand  the  Scriptures  ? 

The  introduction  of  death  into  the  world,  and  the  specific 
character  of  that  death  described  in  Scripture  as  the  conse- 
quence of  sin,  are  the  next  points  where  geology  touches  the 
subject  of  religion.  Here,  too,  the  general  interpretation  of 
Scripture  is  at  variance  with  the  facts  of  geology,  which  dis- 
tinctly testify  to  the  occurrence  of  death  among  animals  long 
before  the  existence  of  man.  Shall  geology  here,  also,  be 
permitted  to  modify  our  exposition  of  the  Bible? 

The  subject  of  deluges,  and  especially  that  of  Noah,  will 
next  claim  our  attention.  For  though  it  is  now  generally 
agreed  that  geology  cannot  detect  traces  of  such  a  deluge  as 
the  Scriptures  describe,  yet  upon  some  other  bearings  of  that 
subject  it  does  cast  light;  and  so  remarkable  is  the  history  of 
opinions  concerning  the  Noachian  deluge,  that  it  could  not 
on  ihat  account  alone  be  properly  passed  in  silence. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  philosophy  of  antiquity,  almost 
without  exception,  regarded  matter  as  eternal ;  and  in  modern 
3 


26  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

times,  metaphysical  theology  has  done  its  utmost  to  refute  the 
supposed  dangerous  dogma.  Geology  affords  us  some  new 
views  of  the  subject ;  and  although  it  does  not  directly  refute 
the  doctrine,  it  brings  before  us  facts  of  such  a  nature  as  to 
show,  that,  so  far  as  religion  is  concerned,  such  a  refutation  is 
of  little  importance.  This  will  furnish  another  theme  of 
discussion. 

It  may  be  thought  extravagant,  but  I  hazard  the  assertion, 
that  no  science  is  so  prolific  of  direct  testimony  to  the  benev- 
olence of  the  Deity  as  geology  ;  and  some  of  its  facts  bear 
strongly  upon  the  objections  to  this  doctrine.  So  important  a 
subject  will,  therefore,  occupy  at  least  one  or  two  lectures. 

In  all  ages,  philosophers  have,  in  one  form  or  another,  en- 
deavored to  explain  the  origin  and  the  phenomena  of  creation 
by  a  power  inherent  in  nature,  independent  of  a  personal 
Deity,  usually  denominated  natural  law.  And  in  modern 
times  this  hypothesis  has  assumed  a  popular  form  and  a  plau- 
sible dress.  Not  less  than  one  lecture  is  demanded  for  its 
examination,  especially  as  its  advocates  appeal  with  special 
confidence  to  geology  for  its  support. 

In  existing  nature,  no  one  fact  stands  out  more  prominently 
than  unity  of  design  ;  and  it  is  an  interesting  inquiry,  whether 
the  same  general  system  prevailed  through  the  vast  periods 
of  geological  history  as  that  which  now  adorns  our  globe. 
This  question  I  shall  endeavor  to  answer  in  the  affirmative, 
by  appealing  to  a  multitude  of  facts. 

Another  question  of  deep  interest  in  theology  is,  whether 
the  Deity  exercises  over  the  world  any  special  providence  ; 
whether  he  ever  interferes  with  the  usual  order  of  things  by 
introducing  change  ;  or  whether  he  has  committed  nature  to 
the  control  of  unalterable  laws,  without  any  direct  efficiency. 
Light  is  thrown  on  these  points  by  the  researches  of  geology, 


RELIGIOUS    RELATIONS    OF    GEOLOGY.  27 

if  I  mistake  not ;  and  I  shall  not  fail  to  attempt  its  devel- 
opment. 

This  science  also  discloses  to  us  many  new  views  of  the 
vast  plans  of  the  Deity,  and  thus  enlarges  our  conceptions  of 
his  wisdom  and  knowledge.  In  this  field  we  must  allow  our- 
selves to  wander  in  search  of  the  golden  fruit. 

In  the  course  of  the  discussion,  we  shall  direct  our  attention 
to  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth  described  in  the  Bible, 
and  inquire  whether  geology  does  not  cast  a  glimpse  of  light 
upon  that  difficult  subject. 

In  approaching  the  close  of  our  subject,  we  shall  introduce 
a  few  lectures  having  a  wider  range,  and  deriving  less  eluci- 
dation from  geology  than  from  other  sciences.  One  is  a  con- 
sideration of  the  physical  effects  of  human  actions  upon  the 
universe.  And  in  conclusion  of  the  whole  subject,  we  shall 
endeavor  to  show  that  the  bearings  of  all  science,  when 
rightly  understood,  are  eminently  favorable  to  religion,  both 
in  this  world  and  the  next. 

With  a  few  miscellaneous  inferences  from  the  principles 
advanced,  I  shall  close  this  lecture. 

In  the  first  place,  we  see  that  the  points  of  connection  be- 
tween geology  and  religion  are  numerous  and  important.  A 
few  years  since,  geology,  instead  of  being  appealed  to  for  the 
illustration  of  religious  truth,  was  regarded  with  great  jeal- 
ousy, as  a  repository  of  views  favorable  to  infidelity,  and  even 
to  atheism.  But  if  the  summary  which  I  have  exhibited  of  its 
religious  relations  be  correct,  from  what  other  science  can  we 
obtain  so  many  illustrations  of  natural  and  revealed  religion.? 
Distinguished  Christian  writers  are  beginning  to  gather  fruit 
in  this  new  field,  and  the  clusters  already  presented  us  by 
such  men  as  Dr.  Chalmers,  Dr.  Pye  Smith,  Dr.  Buckland, 
Dr.  Harris,  and  Dr.   King,  are  an  earnest  of  an  abundant 


^  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

harvest,  I  hazard  the  prediction  that  the  time  is  not  far  dis- 
tant when  it  will  be  said  of  this,  as  of  another  noble  science, 
"  The  undevout  geologist  is  mad." 

Secondly.  I  would  bespeak  the  candid  attention  of  those 
sceptical  minds,  that  are  ever  ready  to  imagine  discrepancies 
between  science  and  religion,  to  the  views  which  I  am  about 
to  present.  The  number  of  such  is  indeed  comparatively 
small ;  yet  there  are  still  some  prepared  to  seize  upon  every  new 
scientific  fact,  before  it  is  fully  developed,  that  can  be  made  to 
assume  the  appearance  of  opposition  to  religion.  It  is  strange 
that  they  should  not  erc  this  time  despair  of  making  any  serious 
impression  upon  the  citadel  of  Christianity.  For  of  all  the 
numerous  assaults  of  this  kind  that  have  been  made,  not  one 
has  destroyed  even  an  outpost  of  religion.  Just  so  soon  as 
the  subject  was  fully  understood,  every  one  of  them  has  been 
abandoned  ;  and  even  the  most  violent  unbeliever  never  thinks, 
at  the  present  day,  of  arraying  them  against  the  Bible.  One 
needs  no  prophetic  inspiration  to  be  confident  that  every  ge- 
ological objection  to  Christianity,  which  perhaps  now  and  then 
an  unbeliever  of  limited  knowledge  still  employs,  will  pass 
into  the  same  limbo  of  forgetful ness. 

Finally.  I  would  throw  out  a  caution  to  those  friends  of 
religion  who  are  very  fearful  that  the  discoveries  of  science 
will  prove  injurious  to  Christianity.  Why  should  the  enlight- 
ened Christian,  who  has  a  correct  idea  of  the  firm  foundation 
on  which  the  Bible  rests,  fear  that  any  disclosures  of  the 
arcana  of  nature  should  shake  its  authority  or  weaken  its 
influence  }  Is  not  the  God  of  revelation  the  God  of  nature 
also  ?  and  must  not  his  varied  works  tend  to  sustain  and  elu- 
cidate, instead  of  weakening  and  darkening,  one  another .'' 
Has  Christianity  suflfered  because  the  Copernican  system  of 
astronomy  has  proved  true,  or  because  chemistry  has  demon- 


IDLE    FEARS    FOR    THE    BIBLE.  29 

strated  that  the  earth  is  already  for  the  most  part  oxidized,  and 
therefore  cannot  literally  be  burned  hereafter  ?  Just  as  much 
as  gold  suffers  by  passing  through  the  furnace.  Yet  how  many 
fears  agitated  the  hearts  of  pious  men  when  these  scientific 
truths  were  first  announced !  The  very  men  who  felt  so 
strong  a  conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  Bible,  that  they  were 
ready  to  go  to  the  stake  in  its  defence,  have  trembled  and 
uttered  loud  notes  of  warning  when  the  votaries  of  science 
have  brought  out  some  new  fact,  that  seemed  perhaps  at  first, 
or  when  partially  understood,  to  contravene  some  statement 
of  revelation.  The  effect  has  been  to  make  sceptical  minds 
look  with  suspicion,  and  sometimes  with  contempt,  upon  Chris- 
tianity itself.  It  has  built  up  a  wall  of  separation  between 
science  and  religion,  which  is  yet  hardly  broken  down.  For 
notwithstanding  the  instructive  history  of  the  past  on  this  sub- 
ject, although  every  supposed  discrepancy  between  philosophy 
and  religion  has  vanished  as  soon  as  both  were  thoroughly 
understood,  yet  so  soon  as  geology  began  to  develop  her  mar- 
vellous truths,  the  cry  of  danger  to  religion  became  again 
the  watchword,  and  the  precursor  of  a  more  extended  and 
severe  attack  upon  that  science  than  any  other  has  ever  expe- 
rienced, and  the  prelude,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  of  severe  personal 
charges  of  infidelity  against  many  an  honest  friend  of  religion. 

In  contrast  to  the  contracted  views  and  groundless  fears 
that  have  been  described,  it  is  refreshing  to  meet  with  such 
sentiments  as  the  following,  from  men  eminent  for  learning, 
and  some  of  them  veterans  in  theological  science.  With 
these  I  close  this  lecture. 

"Those  rocks  which  stand  forth  in  the  order  of  their  forma- 
tion," says  Dr.  Chalmers,  "  and  are  each  imprinted  with  their 
own  peculiar  fossil  remains,  have  been  termed  the  archives  of 
nature,  where  she  hath  recorded  the  changes  that  have  taken 
3* 


30  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

place  in  the  history  of  the  globe.  They  are  made  to  serve  the 
purpose  of  scrolls  or  inscriptions,  on  which  we  might  read  of 
those  great  steps  and  successions  by  which  the  earth  has  been 
brought  into  its  present  state  ;  and  should  these  archives  of  na- 
ture be  but  truly  deciphered,  we  are  not  afraid  of  their  being 
openly  confronted  with  the  archives  of  revelation.  It  is  un- 
manly to  blink  the  approach  of  light,  from  whatever  quarter 
of  observation  it  may  fall  upon  us ;  and  those  are  not  the  best 
friends  of  Christianity,  who  feel  either  dislike  or  alarm  when 
the  torch  of  science,  or  the  torch  of  history,  is  held  up  to  the 
Bible.  For  ourselves,  we  are  not  afraid  when  the  eye  of  an 
intrepid,  if  it  be  only  a  sound  philosophy,  scrutinizes,  however 
jealously,  all  its  pages.  We  have  no  dread  of  any  appre- 
hended conflict  between  the  doctrines  of  Scripture  and  the 
discoveries  of  science,  persuaded,  as  we  are,  that  whatever 
story  the  geologists  of  our  day  shall  find  engraven  on  the 
volume  of  nature,  it  will  only  accredit  that  story  which  is 
graven  on  the  volume  of  revelation." — Chalmers'' s  Works^ 
vol.  ii.  p.  227. 

"  For  our  own  part,"  says  Rev.  Henry  Melville,  "  we  have 
no  fears  that  any  discoveries  of  science  will  really  militate 
against  the  disclosures  of  Scripture.  We  remember  how,  in 
darker  days,  ecclesiastics  set  themselves  against  philosophers 
who  were  investigating  the  motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 
apprehensive  that  the  new  theories  were  at  variance  with  the 
Bible,  and  therefore  resolved  to  denounce  them  as  heresies, 
and  stop  their  spread  by  persecution.  But  truth  triumphed  ; 
bigotry  and  ignorance  could  not  long  prevail  to  the  hiding 
from  the  world  the  harmonious  walkings  of  stars  and  planets  ; 
and  ever  since,  the  philosophy  which  laid  open  the  wonders 
of  the  universe  hath  proved  herself  the  handmaid  of  revela- 
^pn,  which  divulged  secrets  far  beyond  her  gaze.     And  thus, 


THE    BIBLE    ENCOURAGES    RESEARCH.  31 

we  are  persuaded,  shall  it  always  be  ;  science  may  scale  new 
heights  and  explore  new  depths,  but  she  shall  bring  back 
nothing  from  her  daring  and  successful  excursions  which  will 
not,  when  rightly  understood,  yield  a  fresh  tribute  of  testimony 
to  the  Bible.  Infidelity  may  watch  her  progress  with  eager- 
ness, exulting  in  the  thought  that  she  is  furnishing  facts  with 
which  the  Christian  system  may  be  strongly  assailed  ;  but  the 
champions  of  revelation  may  confidently  attend  her  in  every 
march,  assured  that  she  will  find  nothing  which  contradicts, 
if  it  do  not  actually  confirm,  the  word  which  they  know  to  be 
divine."  —  Sermons^  2d  Am.  edit.  vol.  ii.  p.  298. 

"  Shall  it  then  any  longer  be  said,"  says  Dr.  Buckland, 
"  that  a  science,  which  unfolds  such  abundant  evidence  of  the 
being  and  attributes  of  God,  can  reasonably  be  viewed  in  any 
other  light  than  as  the  efficient  auxiliary  and  handmaid  of 
religion  ?  Some  few  there  still  may  be,  whom  timidity,  or 
prejudice,  or  want  of  opportunity,  allow  not  to  examine  its 
evidence ;  who  are  alarmed  by  the  novelty,  or  surprised  by 
the  extent  and  magnitude,  of  the  views  which  geology  forces 
on  their  attention,  and  who  would  rather  have  kept  closed  the 
volume  of  witness,  which  has  been  sealed  up  for  ages,  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  than  impose  upon  the  student  in  nat- 
ural theology  the  duty  of  studying  its  contents  ;  —  a  duty  in 
which,  for  lack  of  experience,  they  may  anticipate  a  hazardous 
or  a  laborious  task,  but  which,  by  those  engaged  in  it,  is  found 
to  afford  a  rational,  and  righteous,  and  delightful  exercise  of 
their  highest  faculties,  in  multiplying  the  evidences  of  the 
existence,  and  attributes,  and  providence  of  God." 

"  It  follows  then,"  says  Dr.  J.  Pye  Smith,  "  as  a  universal 
truth,  that  the  Bible,  faithfully  interpreted,  erects  no  bar 
against  the  most  free  and  extensive  investigation,  the  most 
comprehensive  and  searching  induction.     Let  but  the  investi- 


32  REVELATION    ILLUSTRATED    BY    SCIENCE. 

gation  be  sufficient,  and  the  induction  honest ;  let  observation 
take  its  farthest  flight ;  let  experiment  penetrate  into  all  the 
recesses  of  nature  ;  let  the  veil  of  ages  be  lifted  up  from  all  that 
has  been  hitherto  unknown,  —  if  such  a  course  were  possible, 
religion  need  not  fear  ;  Christianity  is  secure,  and  true  science 
will  always  pay  homage  to  the  divine  Creator  and  Sovereign, 
of  wliom^  and  through  whom^  and  to  lohom  are  all  things  ; 
and  unto  whom  he  glory  for  ever. ''"'  —  Lectures  on  Scripture 
and  Geology^  4th  London  edit.  p.  223. 


(33) 


LECTURE     II. 
THE  EPOCH  OF  THE  EARTH'S  CREATION  UNREVEALED. 

The  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation  of  the  universe  has 
always  been  celebrated  for  its  sublime  simplicity.  Though 
the  subject  be  one  of  unparalleled  grandeur,  the  writer  makes 
not  the  slightest  effort  at  rhetorical  embellishment,  but  em- 
ploys language  which  a  mere  child  cannot  misapprehend. 
How  different,  in  this  resj)ect,  is  this  inspired  record  from  all 
uninspired  efforts  that  have  been  made  to  describe  the  origin 
of  the  world  ! 

But  notwithstanding  the  great  simplicity  and  clearness  of 
this  description,. its  precise  meaning  has  occasioned  as  much 
discussion  as  almost  any  passage  of  Scripture.  This  results 
chiefly  from  its  great  brevity.  Men  with  different  views  of 
inspiration,  cosmogony,  and  philosophy,  engage  in  its  exami- 
nation, not  so  much  to  ascertain  its  meaning,  as  to  find  out 
whether  it  teaches  their  favorite  speculative  views ;  and  be- 
cause it  says  nothing  about  them,  they  attempt  to  fasten  those 
views  upon  it,  and  thus  make  it  teach  a  great  deal  more  than 
the  mind  of  the  Spirit.  My  simple  object,  at  this  time,  is  to 
ascertain  whether  the  Bible  fixes  the  time  when  the  universe 
was  created  out  of  nothing. 

The  prevalent  opinion,  until  recendy,  has  been,  that  we  are 
there  taught  that  the  world  began  to  exist  on  the  first  of  the 
six  days  of  creation,  or  about  six  thousand  years  ago.  Geol- 
ogists, however,  with  one  voice,  declare   that  their  science 


34  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTK's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

indicates  the  earth  to  have  been  of  far  higher  antiquity.  The 
question  becomes,  therefore,  of  deep  interest,  whether  the 
common  interpretation  of  the  Mosaic  record  is  correct. 

Let  us,  in  the  first  place,  examine  carefully  the  terms  of 
that  record,  without  reference  to  any  of  the  conclusions  of 
science. 

A  preliminary  inquiry,  however,  will  here  demand  atten- 
tion, to  which  I  have  already  given  some  thoughts  in  the  first 
lecture.  The  inquiry  relates  to  the  mode  in  which  the  sacred 
writers  describe  natural  phenomena. 

Do  they  adapt  their  descriptions  to  the  views  and  feelings 
of  philosophers,  or  even  the  common  people,  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  or  to  the  state  of  knowledge  and  the  prevalent  opin- 
ions of  a  people  but  shghtly  removed  from  barbarism  ? 

Do  they  write  as  if  they  meant  to  correct  the  notions  of  men 
on  natural  subjects,  when  they  knew  them  to  be  wrong ;  or 
as  if  they  did  not  mean  to  decide  whether  the  popular  opinion 
were  true  or  false  ?  These  points  have  been  examined  with 
great  skill  and  candor  by  a  venerable  clergyman  of  England, 
w^hose  praise  is  in  all  the  American  churches,  and  whose  skill 
in  sacred  philology,  and  profound  acquaintance  with  the  Bible, 
none  will  question,  any  more  than  they  will  his  deep-toned 
piety  and  enlarged  and  liberal  views  of  men  and  things.  I 
refer  to  Dr.  J.  Pye  Smith,  lately  at  the  head  of  the  Homerton 
Divinity  College,  near  London.* 

*  The  news  has  just  reached  us  that  this  venerable  man  is  no  more. 
I  was  present  last  summer  at  Homerton,  when  he  resigned  the  charge 
of  that  beloved  institution.  From  his  addresses  and  his  j^rayers,  so 
redolent  of  the  spirit  of  heaven,  I  might  have  known  that  he  was 
pluming  his  wings  for  his  upward  flight.  I  am  thankful  that  I  was 
permitted  to  see  the  man,  whom,  of  all  others  in  Europe,  I  most  de- 
sired to  see.     But  Dr.  Buckland  I  did  not  meet ;  for  he  was  in  an 


BIBLE    LANGUAGE,    HOW   USED.  35 

He  first  examines  the  style  in  whicli  the  Old  Testament 
describes  the  character  and  operations  of  Jehovah,  and  shows 
that  it  is  done  "  in  language  borrowed  from  the  bodily  and 
mental  constitution  of  man,  and  from  those  opinions  concern- 
ing the  works  of  God  in  the  natural  world,  which  were  gen- 
erally received  by  the  people  to  whom  the  blessings  of  revela- 
tion were  granted."  Constant  reference  is  made  to  material 
images,  and  to  human  feelings  and  conduct,  as  if  the  people 
addressed  were  almost  incapable  of  spiritual  and  abstract 
ideas.  This,  of  course,  gives  a  notion  of  God  infinitely  be- 
neath the  glories  of  his  character  ;  but  to  uncultivated  minds 
it  was  the  only  representation  of  his  character  that  would  give 
them  any  idea  of  it.  Nay,  even  in  this  enlightened  age,  such 
descriptions  are  far  more  impressive  than  any  other  upon  the 
mass  of  mankind ;  while  those,  whose  minds  are  more  en- 
lightened, find  no  difficulty  in  inculcating  the  pure  truth  re- 
specting God  from  these  comparatively  gross  descriptions. 

Now,  if,  upon  a  point  of  such  vast  importance  as  the  divine 
character,  revelation  thus  condescends  to  human  weakness 
and  ignorance,  much  more  might  we  expect  it,  in  regard  to 
the  less  important  subject  of  natural  phenomena.  We  find, 
accordingly,  that  they  are  described  as  they  appear  to  the 
common  eye,  and  not  in  their  real  nature  ;  or,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Rosenmuller,  the  Scriptures  speak  "according  to 
optical,  and   not  physical   truth."     They  make  no  effort  to 

insane  hospital,  with  no  prospect  of  recovery.  Alas  !  how  sad  to  think 
of  such  Christian  philosophers,  so  soon  removed  from  the  world,  or 
from  all  concern  in  it !  Could  I  dare  to  hope  that  I  shall  meet  them 
and  kindred  spirits  before  the  throne  of  our  common  Redeemer,  how 
should  I  exclaim  with  Cicero,  ♦*  O  pre.clarum  diem,  quum  in  illud  ani' 
morum  concilium  coslumqtie  projlciscar,  ut  quum  ex  hoc  turba  ct  coUu- 
viane  discedam  ! 


36  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTh's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

correct  even  the  grossest  errors,  on  these  subjects,  that  then 
prevailed. 

The  earth,  as  we  have  seen  on  a  former  occasion,  is  de- 
scribed as  immovable,  in  the  centre  of  the  universe,  and  the 
heavenly  bodies  as  revolving  round  it  diurnally.  The  firma- 
ment over  us  is  represented  as  a  solid,  extended  substance, 
sustaining  an  ocean  above  it,  with  openings,  or  windows, 
through  which  the  waters  may  descend.  In  respect  to  the 
human  system,  the  Scriptures  refer  intellectual  operations  to 
the  reins,  or  the  region  of  the  kidneys,  and  pain  to  the  bones. 
In  short,  the  descriptions  of  natural  things  are  adapted  to  the 
very  erroneous  notions  which  prevailed  in  the  earliest  ages 
of  society  and  among  the  common  people.  But  it  is  as  easy 
to  interpret  such  descriptions  in  conformity  to  the  present 
state  of  physical  science,  as  it  is  to  divest  the  scriptural 
representations  of  the  Deity  of  their  material  dress,  and  make 
them  conform  to  the  spiritual  views  that  now  prevail.  No 
one  regards  it  as  any  objection  to  the  Old  Testament,  that 
it  gives  a  description  of  the  divine  character  so  much  less 
spiritual  than  the  views  adopted  by  the  theologians  of  the 
nineteenth  century ;  why  then  should  they  regard  it  as  de- 
rogatory to  inspiration  to  adopt  the  same  method  as  to  natural 
objects  ? 

These  considerations  will  afford  us  some  assistance  in  rightly 
interpreting  the  description  of  the  creation,  in  the  first  chapter 
of  Genesis,  to  which  we  will  now  turn  our  attention. 

In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 
And  the  earth  was  without  form  and  void.  And  darkness 
was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep.  And  the  Spirit  of  God  moved 
upon  the  face  of  the  waters.  Arid  God  said.,  Let  there  he  light ^ 
and  there  loas  light.  And  God  saw  the  light  that  it  was  good. 
And  God  divided  the  light  from  the.  darkness.,  and  the  light 


NATURE    OF    THE    CREATIVE    ACT.  37 

he  called  day,  and  the  darkness  he  called  night.  And  the 
evening  and  the  morning  were  the  first  day. 

The  first  question  that  arises,  on  reading  this  passage,  is, 
whether  the  creation  here  described  was  a  creation  out  of 
nothing,  or  out  of  preexisting  materials.  The  latter  opinion 
has  been  maintained  by  some  able,  and  generally  judicious 
commentators  and  theologians,  such  as  Doederlin  and  Dathe 
in  Germany,  Milton  in  England,  and  Bush  and  Schmucker  in 
this  country.  They  do  not  deny  that  the  Bible,  in  other 
places,  teaches  distinctly  the  creation  of  the  universe  out 
of  nothing.  But  they  contend  that  the  word  translated  to 
create.,  in  the  first  verse  of  Genesis,  teaches  only  a  renova- 
tion, or  remodelling,  of  the  universe  from  matter  already  in 
existence. 

That  there  is  a  degree  of  ambiguity  in  all  languages,  in 
the  words  that  signify  to  create.,  to  make,  to  foi^m,  and  the  like, 
cannot  be  doubted ;  that  is,  these  words  may  be  properly  used 
to  describe  the  production  of  a  substance  out  of  matter  already 
in  existence,  as  well  as  out  of  nothing;  and,  therefore,  we 
must  resort  to  the  context,  or  the  nature  of  the  subject,  to  as- 
certain in  which  of  those  senses  such  words  are  used.  The 
same  word,  for  instance,  {hawraw,)  that  is  used  in  the  first 
verse  of  Genesis,  to  describe  the  creation  of  the  universe,  is 
employed  in  the  27th  verse  of  the  same  chapter,  to  describe 
the  formation  of  man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earth.  There  was, 
however,  no  peculiar  ambiguity  in  the  use  of  the  Hebrew  words 
hawraw  and  aii'saiL\\\\i\Q.\\  correspond  to  our  words  create  and 
make;  and,  therefore,  it  is  not  necessary  to  be  an  adept  in 
Hebrew  literature  to  judge  of  the  question  under  considera- 
tion. We  have  only  to  determine  whether  the  translation  of 
the  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation  most  reasonably  teaches  a 
production  of  the  matter  of  the  universe  from  nothing,  or  only 
4 


38  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

its  renovation,  and  we  have  decided  what  is  taught  in  the 
original. 

Now,  there  can  hardly  be  a  doubt  but  Moses  intended  to 
teach,  in  this  passage,  that  the  universe  owed  its  origin  to 
Jehovah,  and  not  to  the  idols  of  the  heathen ;  and  since  all 
acknowledge  that  other  parts  of  Scripture  teach,  that,  when 
the  world  was  made,  it  was  produced  out  of  nothing,  why 
should  we  not  conclude  that  the  same  truth  is  taught  in  this 
passage  ?  The  language  certainly  will  bear  that  meaning  ; 
indeed,  it  is  almost  as  strong  as  language  can  be  to  express 
such  a  meaning  ;  and  does  not  the  passage  look  like  a  distinct 
avowal  of  this  great  truth,  at  the  very  commencement  of  the 
inspired  record,  in  order  to  refute  the  opinion,  so  prevalent  in 
early  times,  that  the  world  is  eternal  ? 

The  next  inquiry  concerning  the  passage  relates  to  the 
phrase  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  Does  it  comprehend  the 
universe  ?  So  it  must  have  been  understood  by  the  Jews ; 
for  their  language  could  not  furnish  a  more  comprehensive 
phrase  to  designate  the  universe.  True,  these  words,  like  those 
already  considered,  are  used  sometimes  in  a  limited  sense. 
But  in  this  place  their  broadest  signification  is  in  perfect  ac- 
cordance with  the  scope  of  the  passage  and  with  the  whole 
tenor  of  the  Scripture.  We  may,  therefore,  conclude  with 
much  certainty,  that  God  intended  in  this  place  to  declare  the 
great  truth,  that  there  was  a  time  in  past  eternity  when  the 
whole  material  universe  came  into  existence  at  his  irresistible 
fiat  :  —  a  truth  eminently  proper  to  stand  at  the  head  of  a 
divine  revelation. 

But  when  did  this  stupendous  event  occur?  Does  the 
phrase  in  the  beginning  show  us  when  ?  Surely  not ;  for  no 
lancjuac^e  can  ba  more  indefinite  as  to  time.  Whenever  it  is 
used  in  the  Bible,  it  merely  designates  the  commencement  of 


GENESIS,  HOW  TO  BE  UNDERSTOOD.  39 

the  series  of  events,  or  the  periods  of  time,  that  are  described. 
In  the  beginning  was  the  2vord  ;  that  is,  at  the  commencement 
of  things  the  word  was  in  existence  ;  consequently  was  from 
eternity.  But  in  Genesis  the  act  of  creation  is  represented 
by  this  phrase  simply  as  the  commencement  of  the  material 
universe,  at  a  certain  point  of  time  in  past  eternity,  which  is 
not  chronologically  fixed.  The  first  verse  merely  informs  us, 
that  the  first  act  of  the  Deity  in  relation  to  the  universe  was 
the  creation  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth  out  of  nothing. 

It  is  contended,  however,  that  the  first  verse  is  so  connected 
with  the  six  days'  work  of  creation,  related  in  the  subsequent 
verse,  that  we  must  understand  the  phrase  in  the  heginning  as 
the  commencement  of  the  first  day.  This  is  the  main  point 
to  be  examined  in  relation  to  the  passage,  and  therefore  de- 
serves a  careful  consideration. 

If  the  first  verse  must  be  understood  as  a  summary  ac- 
count of  the  six  days'  work  which  follows  in  detail,  then  the 
heginning  was  the  commencement  of  the  first  day,  and  of 
course  only  about  six  thousand  years  ago.  But  if  it  may  be 
understood  as  an  announcement  of  the  act  of  creation  at 
some  indefinite  point  in  past  duration,  then  a  period  may  have 
intervened  between  that  first  creative  act  and  the  subsequent 
six  days'  work.  I  contend  that  the  passage  admits  of  either 
interpretation,  without  any  violence  to  the  language  or  the 
narration. 

The  first  of  these  interpretations  is  the  one  usually  received, 
and,  therefore,  it  will  be  hardly  necessary  to  attempt  to  show 
that  it  is  admissible.  The  second  has  had  fewer  advocates, 
and  will,  therefore,  need  to  be  examined. 

The  particle  and^  which  is  used  in  our  translation  of  this 
passage  to  connect  the  successive  sentences,  furnishes  an 
argument  to  the  English  reader  against  this  second  mode  of 


40  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

interpretation,  which  has  far  less  force  with  one  acquainted 
with  the  original  Hebrew.  The  particle  thus  translated  is 
the  general  connecting  particle  of  the  Hebrew  language,  and 
"  may  be  copulative,  or  disjunctive,  or  adversative  ;  or  it  may 
express  a  mere  annexation  to  a  former  topic  of  discourse, — 
the  connection  being  only  that  of  the  subject  matter,  or  the 
continuation  of  the  composition.  This  continuative  use  forms 
one  of  the  most  marked  peculiarities  of  the  Hebrew  idiom, 
and  it  comprehends  every  variety  of  mode  in  which  one  train 
of  sentiment  may  be  appended  to  another,"  —  J.  Pye  Smith, 
Scrip,  and  Gcol.  p.  195,  4th  edit. 

In  the  English  Bible  this  particle  is  usually  rendered  by  the 
copulative  conjunction  and ;  m  the  Septuagint,  and  in  Jose- 
phus,  however,  it  sometimes  has  the  sense  of  but.  And  some 
able  commentators  are  of  opinion  that  it  admits  of  a  similar 
translation  in  the  passage  under  consideration.  The  elder 
E-osenmuller  says  we  might  read  it  thus  :  "  J;^  the  heginning 
God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth.  Afterwards  the  earth 
was  desolate,''''  &c.  Or  the  particle  aftericards  may  be  placed 
at  the  beginning  of  any  of  the  succeeding  verses.  Thus,  In 
the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  the 
earth  was  desolate,  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the 
waters.  Afterwards  the  Spirit  of  God  moved  upon  the  face 
of  the  waters.  Dr.  Dathe,  who  has  been  styled,  by  good  au- 
thority, (Dr.  Smith,)  "  a  cautious  and  judicious  critic,"  renders 
the  first  two  verses  in  this  manner  :  "  In  the  beginning  God 
created  the  heavens  and  the  earth  ;  but  afterwards  the  earth 
became  waste  and  desolate."  If  such  translations  as  these  be 
admissible,  the  passage  not  only  allows,  but  expressly  teaches, 
that  a  period  intervened  between  the  first  act  of  creation  and 
the  six  days'  work.  And  if  such  an  interval  be  allowed,  it  is 
all  that  geology  requires  to  reconcile  its  facts  to  revelation. 


INTERVENING    PERIOD.  41 

For  during  that  time,  all  the  changes  of  mineral  constitution 
and  organic  life,  which  that  science  teaches  to  have  taken 
place  on  the  globe,  previous  to  the  existence  of  man,  may- 
have  occurred. 

It  is  a  presumption  in  favor  of  such  an  interpretation  that 
the  second  verse  describes  the  state  of  the  globe  after  its  cre- 
ation and  before  the  creation  of  light.  For  if  there  were 
no  interval  between  the  fiat  that  called  matter  into  existence, 
and  that  which  said.  Let  there  he  lights  why  should  such  a 
description  of  the  earth's  waste  and  desolate  condition  be 
given  .? 

But  if  there  had  been  such  an  intervening  period,  it  is  per- 
fectly natural  that  such  a  description  should  precede  the  his- 
tory of  successive  creative  acts,  by  which  the  world  was 
adorned  with  light  and  beauty,  and  filled  with  inhabitants. 

But,  after  all,  would  such  an  interpretation  have  ever  been 
thought  of,  had  not  the  discoveries  of  geology  seemed  to 
demand  it  ? 

This  can  be  answered  by  inquiring  whether  any  of  the  wri- 
ters on  the  Bible,  who  lived  before  geology  existed,  or  had 
laid  claims  for  a  longer  period  previous  to  man's  creation, 
whether  any  of  these  adopted  such  an  interpretation.  We 
have  abundant  evidence  that  they  did.  Many  of  the  early- 
fathers  of  the  church  were  very  explicit  on  this  subject. 
Augustin,  Theodoret,  and  others,  supposed  that  the  first  verse 
of  Genesis  describes  the  creation  of  matter  distinct  from,  and 
prior  to,  the  work  of  six  days.  Justin  Martyr  and  Gregory 
Nazianzen  believed  in  an  indefinite  period  between  the  crea- 
tion of  matter  and  the  subsequent  arrangement  of  all  things. 
Still  more  explicit  are  Basil,  Cacsarius,  and  Origen.  It  would 
be  easy  to  quote  similar  opinions  from  more  modern  writers, 
who  lived  previous  to  the  developments  of  geology.  But  I 
4* 


42    EPOCH  OF  THE  EAUTH's  CREATION  UNREVEALED. 

will  give  a  paragraph  from  Bishop  Patrick  only,  who  wrote 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago. 

"  How  long,"  says  he,  "  all  things  continued  in  mere  con- 
fusion after  the  chaos  was  created,  before  light  was  extracted 
from  it,  we  are  not  told.  It  might  have  been,  for  any  thing 
that  is  here  revealed,  a  great  while  ;  and  all  that  time  the 
mighty  Spirit  was  making  such  motions  in  it,  as  prepared,  dis- 
posed, and  ripened  every  part  of  it  for  such  productions  as 
were  to  appear  successively  in  such  spaces  of  time  as  are  here 
afterwards  mentioned  by  Moses,  who  informs  us,  that  after 
things  were  digested  and  made  ready  (by  long  fermentation 
perhaps)  to  be  wrought  into  form,  God  produced  every  day,  for 
six  days  together,  some  creature  or  other,  till  all  was  finished, 
of  which  light  was  the  very  first."  —  Commentary,  in  loco. 

Such  evidence  as  this  is  very  satisfactory.  For  at  the 
present  day  one  cannot  but  fear  that  the  discoveries  of  geology 
may  too  much  influence  him  insensibly  to  put  a  meaning  upon 
Scripture  which  would  never  have  been  thought  of,  if  not  sug- 
gested by  those  discoveries,  and  which  the  language  cannot 
bear.  But  those  fathers  of  the  church  cannot  be  supposed 
under  the  influence  of  any  such  bias ;  and,  therefore,  we  may 
suppose  the  passage  in  itself  to  admit  of  the  existence  of  a 
long  period  between  the  beginning  and  the  first  demiurgic  day. 

Against  these  views  philologists  have  urged  several  objec- 
tions not  to  be  despised.  One  is,  that  light  did  not  exist  till 
the  first  day,  and  the  sun  and  other  luminaries  not  till  the 
fourth  day  ;  whereas  the  animals  and  plants  dug  from  the 
rocks  could  not  have  existed  without  light.  They  could  not, 
therefore,  have  lived  in  the  supposed  long  period  previous  to 
the  six  days. 

If  it  be  indeed  true,  that  light  was  not  called  into  existence 
till  the  first  day,  nor  the   sun  till  the  fourth,  this  objection  is 


SUN    AND    MOON,    WHEN    CREATED.  43 

probably  insuperable.  But  it  would  be  easy  to  cite  the  opinions 
of  many  distinguished  and  most  judicious  expounders  of  the 
Bible,  showing  that  the  words  of  the  Hebrew  original  do  not 
signify  a  literal  creation  of  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  on  the 
fourth  day,  but  only  constituting  or  appointing  them,  at  that 
time,  to  be  luminaries,  and  to  furnish  standards  for  the  division 
of  time  and  other  purposes. 

The  word  used  is  not  the  same  as  that  employed  in  the 
first  verse  to  describe  the  creation  of  the  world  ;  and  the  pas- 
sage, rightly  understood,  implies  the  previous  existence  of  the 
heavenly  bodies.  "  The  words  "in'i  n^'i-4^  are  not  to  be  sep- 
arated from  the  rest,"  says  Rosenmuller,  "  or  to  be  rendered 
fiant  luminaria,  let  there  be  light;  i.  e.,  let  light  he  made; 
but  rather,  let  lights  be  ;  that  is,  serve,  in  the  expanse  of  heaven, 
for  distinguishing  between  day  and  night ;  and  let  them  be,  or 
serve,  for  signs,"  &c.  "The  historian  speaks  (v.  16,  end) 
of  the  determination  of  the  stars  to  certain  uses,  which  they 
were  to  render  to  the  earth,  and  not  of  their  first  formation." 
In  like  manner  we  may  suppose  that  the  production  of  light 
was  only  rendering  it  visible  to  the  earth,  over  which  darkness 
hitherto  brooded  ;  not  because  no  light  was  in  existence,  but 
because  it  did  not  shine  upon  the  earth. 

Another  objection  to  this  interpretation  is,  that  the  fourth 
commandment  of  the  decalogue  expressly  declares,  that  in 
six  days  the  Lord  made  heaven  and  earth,  the  sea,  and  all 
that  in  them  is,  &c.,  and  thus  cuts  off  the  idea  of  a  long 
period  intervening  between  the  beginning  and  the  six  days. 
I  acknowledge  that  this  argument  carries  upon  the  face  of  it 
a  good  deal  of  strength  ;  but  there  are  some  considerations 
that  seem  to  me  to  show  it  to  be  not  entirely  demonstrative. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  correct  principle  of  interpreting 
language,  that  when  a  writer  describes  an  event  in  more  than 


44  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

one  place,  the  briefer  statement  is  to  be  explained  by  the  more 
extended  one.  Thus,  in  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  we 
have  this  brief  account  of  the  creation  :  Tkese  are  the  genera- 
tions of  ike  heavens  and  of  the  earthy  when  they  were  created^ 
in  the  day  that  the  Lord  God  made  the  earth  and  the  heavens. 

Now,  if  this  were  the  only  description  of  the  work  of  crea- 
tion on  record,  the  inference  would  be  very  fair  that  it  was 
all  completed  in  a  single  day. 

Yet  when  we  turn  to  the  first  chapter,  we  find  the  work 
prolonged  through  six  days.  The  two  statements  are  not  con- 
tt'adictory  ;  but  the  briefer  one  would  not  be  understood  with- 
out the  more  detailed.  In  like  manner,  if  we  should  find  it 
distinctly  stated  in  the  particular  account  of  the  creation  of 
the  universe,  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis,  that  a  long  period 
actually  intervened  between  the  beginning  and  the  six  days, 
who  would  suppose  the  statement  a  contradiction  to  the  fourth 
commandment  }  It  is  true,  we  do  not  find  such  a  fact  distinctly 
announced  in  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  creation.  But  sup- 
pose we  first  learn  that  it  did  exist  from  geology  ;  why  should 
we  not  be  as  ready  to  admit  it  as  if  stated  in  Genesis,  pro- 
vided it  does  not  contradict  any  thing  therein  recorded  ?  For 
illustration  :  let  us  refer  to  the  account  given  in  Exodus  of 
the  parents  of  Moses  and  their  family.  And  there  loent  a 
man  of  the  name  of  Levi.,  and  took  to  loife  a  daughter  of  Levi. 
And  the  woman  conceived  and  hare  a  son,  (that  is,  Moses,) 
and  ivhen  she  saw  that  he  icas  a  goodly  child.,  she  hid  him 
three  months.  (Ex.  ii.  12.)  Suppose,  now,  that  no  other  ac- 
count existed  in  the  Bible  of  the  family  of  this  Levite  ;  we 
could  not  surely  have  suspected  that  Moses  had  an  elder 
brother  and  sister.  But  imagine  the  Bible  silent  on  the  sub- 
ject, and  that  the  fact  was  first  brought  to  light  in  deciphering 
Egyptian  hieroglyphics  in  the  nineteenth  century;  who  could 


PERIOD    BEFORE    THE    SIX    DAYS.  45 

hesitate  to  admit  its  truth  because  omitted  in  the  Pentateuch  ? 
or  who  would  regard  it  in  opposition  to  the  sacred  record  ? 
With  equal  propriety  may  we  admit,  on  proper  geological 
evidence,  the  intercalation  of  a  long  period  between  the  be- 
ginning and  the  six  days,  if  satisfied  that  it  does  not  contradict 
the  Mosaic  account.  Hence  all  that  is  necessary,  in  this  con- 
nection, for  me  to  show,  is,  that  such  contradictions  would  not 
be  made  out  by  such  a  discovery. 

Once  more :  if  this  long  period  had  existed,  we  should  hardly 
have  expected  an  allusion  to  it  in  the  fourth  commandment, 
if  the  views  we  have  taken  are  correct  as  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  Old  Testament  treats  of  natural  events.  It  is  lit- 
erally true,  that  all  which  the  Jews  understood  by  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  was  made,  (aivsaw,)  that  is,  renovated,  arranged, 
and  constituted,  —  for  so  the  word  often  means,  — in  six  lit- 
eral days.  Had  the  sacred  writer  alluded  to  the  earth  while 
without  form  and  void,  or  to  the  heavenly  bodies  as  any  thing 
more  than  shining  points  in  the  firmament,  placed  there  on  the 
fourth  day,  he  could  not  have  been  understood  by  the  Hebrews, 
without  going  into  a  detailed  description,  and  thus  violating 
what  seems  to  have  been  settled  principles  in  writing  the 
Bible,  viz.,  not  to  treat  of  natural  phenomena  with  scientific 
accuracy,  nor  to  anticipate  any  scientific  discovery. 

I  wish  it  to  be  distinctly  understood,  that  I  am  endeavoring 
to  show,  only,  that  the  language  of  Scripture  will  admit  of  an 
indefinite  interval  between  the  first  creation  of  matter  and  the 
six  demiurgic  days.  I  am  willing  to  admit,  at  least  for  the 
sake  of  argument,  that  the  common  interpretation,  which 
makes  matter  only  six  thousand  years  old,  is  the  most  natural. 
But  I  contend  that  no  violence  is  done  to  the  language  by 
admitting  the  other  interpretation.  And  in  further  proof  of 
this  position,  I  appeal  to  the  testimony  of  distinguished  modern 


46  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

theologians  and  philologists,  as  I  have  to  several  of  the  an- 
cients. This  point  cannot,  indeed,  be  settled  by  the  authority 
of  names.  But  I  cannot  believe  that  any  will  suppose  such 
men  as  I  shall  mention  were  led  to  adopt  this  view  simply 
because  geologists  asked  for  it,  while  their  judgments  told 
them  that  the  language  of  the  Bible  would  not  bear  such  a 
meaning.  AVhen  such  men,  therefore,  avow  their  acquies- 
cence in  such  an  interpretation,  it  cannot  but  strengthen  our 
confidence  in  its  correctness. 

"  The  interval,"  says  Bishop  Horsley,  "  between  the  pro- 
duction of  the  matter  of  the  chaos  and  the  formation  of  light, 
is  undescribed  and  unknown." 

"  Were  we  to  concede  to  naturalists,"  says  Baumgarten 
Crusius,  "  all  the  reasonings  which  they  advance  in  favor  of 
the  earth's  early  existence,  the  conclusion  would  only  be,  that 
the  earth  itself  has  existed  much  more  than  six  thousand  years, 
and  that  it  had  then  already  suffered  many  great  and  important 
revolutions.  But  if  this  were  so,  would  the  relation  of  Moses 
thereby  become  false  and  untenable  ?     I  cannot  think  so." 

"  By  the  phrase  in  the  he  ginning^''''  says  Doederlin,  "  the 
time  is  declared  when  something  began  to  be.  But  when 
God  produced  this  remarkable  work,  Moses  does  not  precisely 
define." 

"  We  do  not  know,"  says  Sharon  Turner,  "  and  we  have 
no  means  of  knowing,  at  what  point  of  the  ever-flowing  eter- 
nity of  that  which  is  alone  eternal,  —  the  divine  subsistence, 
—  the  creation  of  our  earth,  or  any  part  of  the  universe,  be- 
gan." "  All  that  we  can  learn  explicitly  from  revelation  is, 
that  nearly  six  thousand  years  have  passed  since  our  first 
parents  began  to  be." 

"  The  words  in  the  text,"  says  Dr.  Wiseman,  "  do  not 
merely  express  a  momentary  pause  between  the  first  fiat  of 


OPINIONS    OF    SCHOLARS.  47 

creation  and  the  production  of  light ;  for  the  participial  form 
of  the  verb,  whereby  the  Spirit  of  God,  the  creative  energy, 
is  represented  as  brooding  over  the  abyss,  and  communicating 
to  it  the  productive  virtue,  naturally  expresses  a  continuous, 
and  not  a  passing  action." 

"  I  am  strongly  inclined  to  believe,"  says  Bishop  Gleig, 
"  that  the  matter  of  the  corporeal  universe  was  all  created  at 
once  ;  though  different  portions  of  it  may  have  been  reduced 
to  form  at  very  different  periods.  When  the  universe  was  cre- 
ated, or  how  long  the  solar  system  remained  in  a  chaotic  state, 
are  vain  inquiries,  to  which  no  answer  can  be  given." 

"  The  detailed  history  of  creation  in  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis,"  says  Dr.  Chalmers,  "  begins  at  the  middle  of  the 
second  verse ;  and  what  precedes  might  be  understood  as  an 
introductory  sentence,  by  which  we  are  most  appositely  told, 
both  that  God  created  all  things  at  the  first,  and  that  after- 
wards —  by  what  interval  of  time  it  is  not  specified  —  the  earth 
lapsed  into  a  chaos,  from  the  darkness  and  disorder  of  which 
the  present  system  or  economy  of  things  was  made  to  arise. 
Between  the  initial  act  and  the  details  of  Genesis,  the  world, 
for  aught  we  know,  might  have  been  the  theatre  of  many 
revolutions,  the  traces  of  which  geology  may  still  inves- 
tigate," &c. 

"  A  philological  survey  of  the  initial  sections  of  the  Bible, 
(Gen.  i.  1  to  ii.  3,)  "  says  Dr.  Pye  Smith,  "  brings  out  the 
result ; " 

1.  "  That  the  first  sentence  is  a  simple,  independent,  all- 
comprehending  axiom,  to  this  effect,  —  that  matter^  elementary 
or  combined,  aggregated  only  or  organized,  and  dependent^ 
sentient^  and  intellectual  beings  have  not  existed  from  eternity, 
either  in  self-continuity  or  succession,  but  had  a  beginning ; 
that  their  beginning  took  place  by  the  all-powerful  will  of  one 


48  EVOCH    OF    THE    EAKTH's    CREATION    UNKEVEALED. 

Being,  the  self-existent,  independent  and  infinite  in  all  perfec- 
tion ;  and  that  the  date  of  that  beginning  is  not  made  known." 

2.  "  That  at  a  recent  epoch,  our  planet  was  brought  into 
a  state  of  disorganization,  detritus,  or  ruin,  (perhaps  we  have 
no  perfectly  appropriate  term,)  from  a  former  condition. 

3.  "  That  it  pleased  the  Almighty,  wise  and  benevolent 
Supreme,  out  of  that  state  of  ruin  to  adjust  the  surface  of  the 
earth  to  its  now  existing  condition,  —  the  whole  extending 
through  the  period  of  six  natural  days." 

"  I  am  forming,"  continues  Dr.  Smith,  "  no  hypotheses  in 
geology  ;  I  only  plead  that  the  ground  is  dear,  and  that  the 
dictates  of  the  Scripture  interpose  7io  bar  to  observation  and 
reasoning  upon  the  mineralogical  constitution  of  the  earth, 
and  the  remains  of  organized  creatures  which  its  strata  dis- 
close. If  those  investigations  should  lead  us  to  attribute  to 
the  earth  and  to  the  other  planets  and  astral  spheres  an  an- 
tiquity which  millions  or  ten  thousand  millions  of  years 
might  fail  to  represent,  the  divine  records  forbid  not  their 
deduction.^''  —  Script,  and  Geol.  p.  502. 

Says  Dr.  Bedford,  "  We  ought  to  understand  Moses  as  say- 
ing, indefinitely  far  back,  and  concealed  from  us  in  the  mys- 
tery of  eternal  ages,  prior  to  the  first  moment  of  mundane 
time,  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth."  —  Smith, 
Script,  and  Geol.  4th  edit. 

"  My  firm  persuasion  is,"  says  Dr.  Harris,  *' that  the  first 
verse  of  Genesis  was  designed,  by  the  divine  Spirit,  to  an- 
nounce the  absolute  origination  of  the  material  universe  by 
the  Almighty  Creator  ;  and  that  it  is  so  understood  in  the 
other  parts  of  holy  writ ;  that,  passing  by  an  indefinite  inter- 
val, the  second  verse  describes  the  state  of  our  planet  imme- 
diately prior  to  the  Adamic  creation,  and  that  the  third  verse 
begins  the  account  of  the  six  days'  work." 


TESTIMONY    OF    THEOLOGIANS.  49 

"  If  I  am  reminded,  in  a  tone  of  animadversion,  that  I  am 
making  science,  in  this  instance,  the  interpreter  of  Scripture, 
my  reply  is,  that  I  am  simply  making  the  works  of  God  illus- 
trate his  word  in  a  department  in  which  they  speak  with  a 
distinct  and  authoritative  voice  ;  that  "  it  is  all  the  same 
whether  our  geological  or  theological  investigations  have  been 
prior,  if  we  have  not  forced  the  one  into  accordance  with 
the  other."  —  (Davidson,  Sacred  Hermeneutics.)  "  And  that  it 
might  be  deserving  consideration,  whether  or  not  the  conduct 
of  those  is  not  open  to  just  animadversion,  who  first  under- 
take to  pronounce  on  the  meaning  of  a  passage  of  Scripture, 
irrespective  of  all  the  appropriate  evidence,  and  who  then, 
when  that  evidence  is  explored  and  produced,  insist  on  their 
a  priori  interpretation  as  the  only  true  one."  —  Fre- Adamite 
Earth,  p.  280. 

"  Our  best  expositors  of  Scripture,"  says  Dr.  Daniel  King, 
of  Glasgow,  "  seem  to  be  now  pretty  generally  agreed,  that 
the  opening  verse  in  Genesis  has  no  necessary  connection 
with  the  verses  which  follow.  They  think  it  may  be  under- 
stood as  making  a  separate  and  independent  statement  regard- 
ing the  creation  proper,  and  that  the  phrase  '  in  the  begin- 
ning' may  be  expressive  of  an  indefinitely  remote  antiquity. 
On  this  principle  the  Bible  recognizes,  in  the  first  instance, 
the  great  age  of  the  earth,  and  then  tells  us  of  the  changes  it 
underwent  at  a  period  long  subsequent,  in  order  to  render  it 
a  fit  abode  for  the  family  of  man.  The  work  of  the  six  days 
was  not,  according  to  this  view,  a  creation  in  the  strict  sense 
of  the  term,  but  a  renovation,  a  remodelling  of  preexisting 
materials."  —  Principles  of  Geology  explained,  &c.  p.  40, 
1st  edit. 

"  Whether  the  Mor^tiic  creation,"  says  Dr.  Schmucker,  of 
the  Lutheran  church  in  this  country^  "  refers  to  the  present 
5 


50  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

organization  of  matter,  or  to  the  formation  of  its  primary  ele- 
ments, it  is  not  easy  to  decide.  The  question  is  certainly  not 
determined  by  the  usage  of  the  original  words,  j^^::,  n:i3>', 
which  are  frequently  employed  to  designate  mediate  forma- 
tion. Should  the  future  investigations  of  physical  science 
bring  to  light  any  facts,  indisputably  proving  the  anterior 
existence  of  the  matter  of  this  earth,  such  facts  would  not 
militate  against  the  Christian  Scriptures." 

"  That  a  very  long  period,"  says  Dr.  Pond,  —  "  how  long  no 
being  but  God  can  tell, —  intervened  between  the  creation  of 
the  world  and  the  commencement  of  the  six  days'  work  re- 
corded in  the  following  verses  of  the  first  chapter  of  Grenesis, 
there  can,  I  think,  be  no  reasonable  doubt." 

But  I  need  not  adduce  any  more  advocates  of  the  interpre- 
tation of  Genesis,  for  which  I  contend.  Men  more  respected 
and  confided  in  by  the  Christian  world  I  could  not  quote,  though 
I  might  enlarge  the  number  ;  but  I  trust  it  is  unnecessary. 
I  trust  that  all  who  hear  me  are  satisfied  that  the  Mosaic  his- 
tory of  the  creation  of  the  world  does  fairly  admit  of  an  inter- 
pretation which  leaves  an  undefined  interval  between  the 
creation  of  matter  and  the  six  days'  work.  Let  it  be  recol- 
lected that  I  do  not  maintain  that  this  is  the  most  natural 
interpretation,  but  only  that  the  passage  will  fairly  admit  it 
by  the  strict  rules  of  exegesis.  The  question  still  remains  to 
be  considered,  whether  there  is  sufficient  reason  to  adopt  it  as 
the  true  interpretation.  To  show  that  there  is,  I  now  make 
my  appeal  to  geology.  This  is  a  case,  it  seems  to  me,  in 
which  we  may  call  in  the  aid  of  science  to  ascertain  the  true 
meaning  of  Scripture.  The  question  is,  Does  geology  teach, 
distinctly  and  uncontrovertibly,  that  the  world  must  have 
existed  during  a  long  period  prior  to  the  existence  of  the  races 
of  organized  beings  that  now  occupy  its  surface  ? 


PROOFS  OF  THE  EARTH's  GREAT  AGE.  51 

To  give  a  popular  view  of  the  evidence  sustaining  the  affir- 
mative of  this  question  is  no  easy  task.  It  needs  a  full  and 
accurate  acquaintance  with  the  multiplied  facts  of  geology, 
and,  what  is  still  more  rare,  a  familiarity  with  geological  rea- 
soning, in  order  to  feel  the  full  force  of  the  arguments  that 
prove  the  high  antiquity  of  the  globe.  Yet  I  know  that  I  have 
a  right  to  presume  upon  a  high  degree  of  scientific  knowledge, 
and  an  accurate  acquaintance  with  geology,  among  those 
whom  I  address. 

In  the  first  place,  I  must  recur  to  a  principle  already  briefly 
stated  in  a  former  lecture,  viz.,  that  a  careful  examination  of 
the  rocks  presents  irresistible  evidence,  that,  in  their  present 
condition,  they  are  all  the  result  of  second  causes  ;  in  other 
words,  they  are  not  now  in  the  condition  in  which  they  were 
originally  created.  Some  of  them  have  been  melted  and  re- 
consolidated,  and  crowded  in  between  others,  or  spread  over 
them.  Others  have  been  worn  down  into  mud,  sand,  and 
gravel,  by  water  and  other  agents,  and  again  cemented  to- 
gether, after  having  enveloped  multitudes  of  animals  and 
plants,  which  are  now  imbedded  as  organic  remains.  In  short, 
all  known  rocks  appear  to  have  been  brought  into  their  present 
state  by  chemical  or  mechanical  agencies.  It  is  indeed  easy 
to  say  that  these  appearances  are  deceptive,  and  that  these 
rocks  may,  with  perfect  ease,  have  been  created  just  as  we 
now  find  them.  But  it  is  not  easy  to  retain  this  opinion,  after 
having  carefully  examined  them.  For  the  evidence  that  they 
are  of  secondary  origin  is  nearly  as  strong,  and  of  the  same 
kind  too,  as  it  is  that  the  remains  of  edifices  lately  discovered 
in  Central  America  are  the  work  of  man,  and  were  not  cre- 
ated in  their  present  condition. 

In  the  second  place,  processes  are  going  on  by  which  rocks 
are  formed  on  a  small  scale,  of  the  same  character  as  those 


52  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

which  constitute  the  great  mass  of  the  earth.  Hence  it  is  fair 
to  infer,  that  all  the  rocks  were  formed  in  a  similar  manner. 
Beds  of  gravel,  for  instance,  are  sometimes  cemented  together 
by  heat,  or  iron,  or  lime,  so  as  to  resemble  exactly  the  con- 
glomerates found  in  mountain  masses  among  the  ancient 
rocks.  Clay  is  sometimes  converted  into  slate  by  heat,  as  is 
soft  marl  into  limestone,  by  the  same  cause.  In  fact,  we  find 
causes  now  in  operation  that  produce  all  the  varieties  of  known 
rocks,  except  some  of  the  oldest,  which  seem  to  need  only  a 
greater  intensity  in  some  of  the  causes  now  at  work  to  pro- 
duce them.  By  ascertaining  the  rate  at  which  rocks  are  now 
forming,  therefore,  we  can  form  some  opinion  as  to  the  time 
requisite  to  produce  those  constituting  the  crust  of  the  globe. 
If,  for  instance,  we  can  determine  how  fast  ponds,  lakes,  and 
oceans  are  filling  up  with  mud,  sand,  and  gravel,  conveyed  to 
their  bottoms,  we  can  judge  of  the  period  necessary  to  pro- 
duce those  rocks  which  appear  to  have  been  formed  in  a  sim- 
ilar manner  ;  and  if  there  is  any  evidence  that  the  process 
was  more  rapid  in  early  times,  we  can  make  due  allowance. 

In  the  third  place,  all  the  stratified  rocks  appear  to  have 
been  formed  out  of  the  fragments  of  other  rocks,  worn  down 
by  the  action  of  water  and  atmospheric  agencies.  This  is 
particularly  true  of  that  large  proportion  of  these  rocks  which 
contain  the  remains  of  animals  and  plants.  The  mud,  sand, 
and  gravel  of  which  these  are  mostly  composed,  must  have 
been  worn  from  rocks  previously  existing,  and  have  been 
transported  into  lakes,  and  the  ocean,  as  the  same  process  is 
now  going  on.  There  the  animals  and  plants,  which  died  in 
the  waters,  and  were  transported  thither  by  rivers,  must  have 
been  buried  ;  next,  the  rocks  must  have  been  hardened  into 
stone,  by  admixture  with  lime,  or  iron,  or  by  internal  heat ;  and, 
finally,  have  been  raised  above  the  waters,  so  as  to  become 


DEPOSIT    IN    LAKE    LEHMAN,  53 

dry  land.  Beds  of  limestone  are  interstratified  with  those  of 
shale,  sandstone,  and  conglomerate ;  but  these  form  only  a 
small  proportion  of  the  whole,  and,  besides,  were  mostly  formed 
in  an  analogous  manner,  though  by  agencies  more  decidedly 
chemical. 

Now,  for  the  most  part,  this  process  of  forming  rocks  by 
the  accumulation  of  mud,  sand,  and  gravel  is  very  slow.  In 
general,  such  accumulations,  at  the  bottom  of  lakes  and  the 
ocean,  do  not  increase  more  than  a  few  inches  in  a  century. 
During  violent  floods,  indeed,  and  in  a  few  limited  spots,  the 
accumulation  is  much  more  rapid  ;  as  in  the  Lake  of  Geneva, 
through  which  the  Rhone,  loaded  with  detritus  from  the  Alps, 
passes,  where  a  delta  has  been  formed  two  miles  long  and 
nine  hundred  feet  thick,  within  eight  hundred  years.*  And 
occasionally  such  rapid  depositions  probably  took  place  while 
the  older  rocks  were  in  the  course  of  formation.  But  in  gen- 
eral, the  work  seems  to  have  gone  on  as  slowly  as  it  usually 
does  at  present. 

Yet,  in  the  fourth  place,  there  must  have  been  time  enough 

*  This  had  always  seemed  to  me  a  very  strong  case,  as  I  had  seen 
it  described.  But  a  recent  visit  to  the  spot  (September,  1850)  did  not 
make  so  strong  an  impression  upon  me  as  I  expected.  In  the  first 
place,  I  found  the  head  of  Lake  Lehman,  where  the  Rhone  enters,  to 
be  so  narrow,  that  the  detritus  brought  down  by  the  river  cannot 
spread  itself  out  very  far  laterally.  Secondly,  I  found,  on  ascending 
the  Rhone,  that  it  is  every  where  a  very  rapid  stream ;  and,  on  ac- 
count of  the  origination  of  its  branches  from  glaciers,  it  is  always 
loaded  with  mud.  So  that  the  process  of  deposition  must  be  going 
on  continually.  This  cannot  be  the  case  in  one  in  ten  of  other  rivers, 
w^hose  waters,  for  most  of  the  year,  are  clear.  This  case,  then,  is 
only  a  quite  unusual  exception,  and  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  stan- 
dard by  which  to  judge  of  the  rate  of  deposition  at  present,  or  in  past 
times. 

5* 


54  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

since  the  creation  to  deposit  at  least  ten  miles  of  rocks  in 
perpendicular  thickness,  in  the  manner  that  has  been  de- 
scribed. For  the  stratified  rocks  are  at  least  of  that  thickness 
in  Europe,  and  in  this  country  much  thicker  ;  or,  if  we  regard 
only  the  fossiliferous  strata  as  thus  deposited,  (since  some 
geologists  might  hesitate  to  admit  that  the  non-fossil iferous 
rocks  were  thus  produced,)  these  are  six  and  a  half  miles 
thick  in  Europe,  and  still  thicker  in  this  country.  How  im- 
mense a  period  was  requisite  for  such  a  work  !  Some  do, 
indeed,  contend  that  the  work,  in  all  cases,  as  we  have  al- 
lowed it  in  a  few^  may  have  been  vastly  more  rapid  than  at 
the  present  day.  But  the  manner  in  which  the  materials  are 
arranged,  and  especially  the  preservation  of  the  most  delicate 
parts  of  the  organic  remains,  often  in  the  very  position  in 
which  the  animals  died,  show  the  quiet  and  slow  manner  in 
which  the  process  went  on. 

In  the  fifth  place,  it  is  certain  that,  since  man  existed  on  the 
globe,  materials  for  the  production  of  rocks  have  not  accu- 
mulated to  the  average  thickness  of  more  than  one  hundred 
or  two  hundred  feet ;  although  in  particular  places,  as  already 
mentioned,  the  accumulations  are  thicker.  The  evidence  of 
this  position  is,  that  neither  the  works  nor  the  remains  of  man 
have  been  found  any  deeper  in  the  earth  than  in  the  upper 
part  of  that  superficial  deposit  called  alluvimn.  But  had  man 
existed  while  the  other  deposits  were  going  on,  no  possible 
reason  can  be  given  why  his  bones  and  the  fruits  of  his  labors 
should  not  be  found  mixed  with  those  of  other  animals,  so 
abundant  in  the  rocks,  to  the  depth  of  six  or  seven  miles.  In 
the  last  six  thousand  years,  then,  only  one  five  hundredth  part 
of  the  stratified  rocks  has  been  accumulated.  I  mention  this 
fact,  not  as  by  any  means  an  exact,  but  only  an  approximate, 
rneasurg  of  the  time  in  which  the  older  rocks  were  deposited  ; 


VARIETY    IN    THE    DEPOSITS.  55 

for  the  precise  age  of  the  world  is  probably  a  problem  which 
science  never  can  solve.  All  the  means  of  comparison  within 
our  reach  enable  us  to  say,  only,  that  its  duration  must  have 
been  immense. 

In  the  sixth  place,  during  the  deposition  of  the  stratified 
rocks,  a  great  number  of  changes  must  have  occurred  in  the 
matter  of  which  they  are  composed.  Hundreds  of  such 
changes  can  be  easily  counted,  and  they  often  imply  great 
changes  in  the  waters  holding  the  materials  in  solution  or  sus- 
pension ;  such  changes,  indeed,  as  must  have  required  differ- 
ent oceans  over  the  same  spot.  Such  events  could  not  have 
taken  place  without  extensive  elevations  and  subsidences  of 
the  earth's  crust ;  nor  could  such  vertical  movements  have  hap- 
pened without  much  intervening  time,  as  many  facts,  too 
technical  to  be  here  detailed,  show.  Here,  then,  we  have 
another  evidence  of  vast  periods  of  time  occupied  in  the  sec- 
ondary production  and  arrangements  of  the  earth's  crust. 

In  the  seventh  place,  numerous  races  of  animals  and  plants 
must  have  occupied  the  globe  previous  to  those  which  now 
inhabit  it,  and  have  successively  passed  away,  as  catastrophes 
occurred,  or  the  climate  became  unfit  for  their  residence. 
Not  less  than  thirty  thousand  species  have  already  been  dug 
out  of  the  rocks ;  and  excepting  a  few  hundred  species,  mostly 
of  sea  shells,  occurring  in  the  uppermost  rocks,  none  of  them 
correspond  to  those  now  livmg  on  the  globe.  In  Europe,  they 
are  found  to  the  depth  of  about  six  and  a  half  miles;  and  in 
this  country,  deeper  ;  and  no  living  species  is  found  more  than 
one  twelfth  of  this  depth.  All  the  rest  are  specifically  and 
often  generically  unlike  living  species  ;  and  the  conclusion 
seems  irresistible,  that  they  must  have  lived  and  died  before 
the  creation  of  the  present  species.  Indeed,  so  different  was 
the   climate   in   those    early   times,  —  it  having    been    much 


56  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

warmer  than  at  present  in  most  parts  of  the  world,  —  that  but 
few  of  the  present  races  could  have  lived  then.  Still  further: 
it  appears  that,  during  the  whole  period  since  organized  beings 
first  appeared  on  the  globe,  not  less  than  four,  or  five,  and 
probably  more  —  some  think  as  many  as  ten  or  twelve  —  entire 
races  have  passed  away,  and  been  succeeded  by  recent  ones ; 
so  that  the  globe  has  actually  changed  all  its  inhabitants 
half  a  dozen  times.  Yet  each  of  the  successive  groups  occu- 
pied it  long  enough  to  leave  immense  quantities  of  their 
remains,  which  sometimes  constitute  almost  entire  mountains. 
And  in  general,  these  groups  became  extinct  in  consequence 
of  a  change  of  climate ;  which,  if  imputed  to  any  known 
cause,  must  have  been  an  extremely  slow  process. 

Now,  these  results  are  no .  longer  to  be  regarded  as  the 
dreams  of  fancy,  but  the  legitimate  deductions  from  long  and 
careful  observation  of  facts.  And  can  any  reasonable  man 
conceive  how  such  changes  can  have  taken  place  since  the 
six  days  of  creation,  or  within  the  last  six  thousand  years  ? 
In  order  to  reconcile  them  with  such  a  supposition,  we  must 
admit  of  hypotheses  and  absurdities  more  wild  and  extravagant 
than  have  ever  been  charged  upon  geology.  But  admit  of  a 
long  period  between  the  first  creative  act  and  the  six  days,  and 
all  difficulties  vanish. 

In  the  eighth  place,  the  denudations  and  erosions  that  have 
taken  place  on  the  earth's  surface  indicate  a  far  higher  an- 
tiquity to  the  globe,  even  since  it  assumed  essentially  its  pres- 
ent condition,  than  the  common  interpretation  of  Genesis 
admits.  The  geologist  can  prove  that  in  many  cases  the  rocks 
have  been  worn  away,  by  the  slow  action  of  the  ocean,  more 
than  two  miles  in  depth  in  some  regions,  and  those  very  wide  ; 
as  in  South  Wales,  in  England.  As  the  continents  rose  from- 
the  ocean,  the  slow  drainage   by  the   rivers  has  excavated 


GORGES  WORN  BY  RIVERS.  57 

numerous  long  and  deep  gorges,  requiring  periods  incalculably 
extended. 

1  do  not  wonder  that,  when  the  sceptic  stands  upon  the 
banks  of  Niagara  River,  and  sees  how  obviously  the  splendid 
cataract  has  worn  out  the  deep  gorge  extending  to  Lake  On- 
tario, he  should  feel  that  there  is  a  standing  proof  that  the 
common  opinion,  as  to  the  age  of  the  world,  cannot  be  true  ; 
and  hence  be  led  to  discard  the  Bible,  if  he  supposes  that  to 
be  a  true  interpretation. 

But  the  Niagara  gorge  is  only  one  among  a  multitude  of 
examples  of  erosion  that  might  be  quoted  ;  and  some  of  them 
far  more  striking  to  a  geologist.  On  Oak  Orchard  Creek,  and 
the  Genesee  River,  between  Rochester  and  Lake  Ontario,  are 
similar  erosions,  seven  miles  long.  On  the  latter  river,  south 
of  Rochester,  we  find  a  cut  from  Mount  Morris  to  Portage, 
sometimes  four  hundred  feet  deep.  On  many  of  our  south- 
western rivers  we  have  what  are  called  ca'wons,or  gorges,  often 
two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  deep,  and  several  miles  long.  Near 
the  source  of  Missouri  River  are  what  are  called  the  Gates  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains,  where  there  is  a  gorge  six  miles  long 
and  twelve  hundred  feet  deep.  Similar  cuts  occur  on  the 
Columbia  River,  hundreds  of  feet  deep,  through  the  hard  trap 
rock,  for  hundreds  of  miles,  between  the  American  Falls  and 
the  Dalles.  At  St.  Anthony's  Falls,  on  the  Mississippi,  that 
river  has  worn  a  passage  in  limestone  seven  miles  long,  which 
distance  the  cataract  has  receded.  On  the  Potomac,  ten  miles 
west  of  Washington,  the  Great  Falls  have  worn  back  a  pas- 
sage sixty  to  sixty-five  feet  deep,  four  miles,  continuously  — 
a  greater  work,  considering  the  nature  of  the  rock,  than  has 
been  done  by  the  Niagara.  The  passage  for  the  Hudson, 
through  the  highlands,  is  probably  an  example  of  river  ero- 
sion :  as  is  also   that  of  the  Connecticut  at  Brattleboro'  and 


53  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

Bellows  Falls.  In  these  places,  it  can  be  proved  that  the  river 
was  once  at  least  seven  hundred  feet  above  its  present  bed. 
On  the  Deerfield  River,  a  tributary  of  the  Connecticut,  we 
have  a  gulf  called  the  Ghor,  eight  miles  long  and  several  hun- 
dred feet  deep,  cut  crosswise  through  the  mica  slate  and  gneiss 
by  the  stream. 

On  the  eastern  continent  I  might  quote  a  multitude  of  anal- 
ogous cases.  There  is,  for  instance,  the  Wady  el  Jeib,  in  soft 
limestone,  within  the  Wady  Arabah,  south  of  the  Dead  Sea. 
The  defile  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  deep,  half  a  mile  wide, 
and  forty  miles  long.  In  Mount  Lebanon,  several  remarkable 
chasms  in  limestone  have  been  described  by  American  mis- 
sionaries, as  that  on  Dog  River,  (Lycus  of  the  ancients,)  six 
miles  long,  seventy  or  eighty  feet  deep,  and  from  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  wide  ;  also, 
Wady  Barida,  whose  walls  are  six  hundred  to  eight  hundred 
feet  high.  On  the  River  Ravendoor,  in  Kurdistan,  is  a  gorge, 
described  in  a  letter  from  Dr.  Perkins,  one  thousand  feet  deep. 
Another  on  the  Euphrates,  near  Diadeen,  is  seventy  feet  deep, 
and  is  spanned  by  a  natural  bridge  one  hundred  feet  long. 
On  the  River  Terek,  in  the  Dariel  Caucasus,  is  a  pass  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles  long,  whose  walls  rise  from  one 
thousand  to  three  thousand  feet  high.  In  Africa,  the  River 
Zaire  has  cut  a  passage,  forty  miles  long,  through  mica  slate, 
quartz,  and  syenhe  ;  and  in  New  South  Wales,  Cox  River 
passes  through  a  gorge  twenty-two  hundred  yards  wide  and 
eight  hundred  feet  high. 

Ninthly.  Since  the  geological  period  now  passing  com- 
menced, called  the  alluvial^  or  pleistocene  period,  certain 
changes  have  been  going  on,  which  indicate  a  very  great 
antiquity  to  the  drift  period,  which  was  the  commencement 
of  the  alluvial   period,  and  has  been  considered  among  the 


ANCIENT    TERRACES    AND    SEA    BEACHES.  59 

most  recent  of  geological  events.  I  refer  to  the  formation 
of  deltas  and  of  terraces. 

Of  the  deltas  I  will  mention  but  a  single  example,  to  which, 
however,  many  others  correspond.  The  Mississippi  carries 
down  to  its  mouth  28,188,803,892  cubic  feet  of  sediment 
yearly,  which  it  deposits ;  or  one  cubic  mile  in  five  years  and 
eighty-one  days.  Now,  as  the  whole  delta  contains  twenty- 
seven  hundred  and  twenty  cubic  miles,  it  must  have  required 
fourteen  thousand  two  hundred  and  four  years  to  form  it  in 
this  manner. 

Terraces  occur  along  some  of  the  rivers  of  our  country  from 
four  hundred  to  five  hundred  feet  above  their  present  beds, 
and  around  our  lakes  to  the  height  of  nearly  one  thousand  feet. 
They  are  composed  of  gravel,  sand,  clay,  and  loam,  that  have 
been  comminuted,  and  sorted,  and  deposited,  by  water  chiefly. 
At  a  height  two  or  three  times  greater,  on  the  same  rivers 
and  lakes,  we  find  what  seem  to  be  ancient  sea  beaches,  of 
the  same  materials,  deposited  earlier,  and  less  comminuted. 
The  same  facts  also  occur  in  Europe,  and  probably  in  Asia. 

Now,  it  seems  quite  certain,  that  these  beaches  and  terraces 
were  formed  as  the  continents  were  being  drained  of  the  waters 
of  the  ocean,  and  the  rivers  were  cutting  down  their  beds ; 
which  last  process  has  been  going  on  in  many  places  to  the 
present  day.  Yet  scarcely  nowhere,  since  the  memory  of 
man,  have  even  the  lowest  of  these  terraces  and  beaches  been 
formed,  save  on  a  very  limited  scale,  and  of  a  few  feet  in 
height.  The  lowest  of  them  have  been  the  sites  of  towns  and 
cities,  ever  since  the  settlement  of  our  country,  and  on  the 
eastern  continent  much  longer.  Yet  we  see  the  processes  by 
which  they  have  been  formed  now  in  operation ;  but  they 
have  scarcely  made  any  progress  during  the  period  of  human 
histon,'.     How  vast  the  period,  then,  since  the  work  was  first 


60  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

commenced  !  Yet  even  its  commencement  seems  to  have  been 
no  further  back  than  the  drift  epoch,  since  that  deposit  lies 
beneath  the  terraces.  But  the  drift  period  was  comparatively 
a  very  recent  one  on  the  geological  scale.  How  do  such  facts 
impress  us  with  the  vast  duration  of  the  globe  since  the  first 
series  of  changes  commenced  ! 

Finall}^  There  is  no  little  reason  to  believe  that,  previous  to 
the  formation  of  the  stratified  rocks,  the  earth  passed  through 
changes  that  required  vast  periods  of  time,  by  which  it  was 
gradually  brought  into  a  habitable  state.  It  is  even  believed 
that  one  of  its  earliest  conditions  was  that  of  vapor  ;  that,  grad- 
ually condensing,  it  became  a  melted  globe  of  fire,  and  then, 
as  it  gradually  cooled,  a  crust  formed  over  its  surface ;  and 
so  at  last  it  became  habitable.  All  this  is  indeed  hypothesis ; 
and,  therefore,  I  do  not  place  it  in  the  same  rank  as  the  other 
proofs  of  the  earth's  antiquity,  already  adduced.  Still  this 
hypothesis  has  so  much  evidence  in  its  favor,  that  not  a  few 
of  the  ablest  and  most  cautious  philosophers  of  the  present 
day  have  adopted  it.  And  if  it  be  indeed  true,  it  throws  back 
the  creation  of  the  universe  to  a  period  remote  beyond  calcu- 
lation or  conception. 

Now,  let  this  imperfect  summary  of  evidence  in  favor  of  the 
earth's  high  antiquity  be  candidly  weighed,  and  can  any  one 
think  it  strange  that  every  man,  who  has  carefully  and  exten- 
sively examined  the  rocks  in  their  native  beds,  is  entirely  con- 
vinced of  its  validity?  Men  of  all  professions,  and  of  diverse 
opinions  concerning  the  Bible,  have  been  geologists ;  but  on 
this  point  they  are  unanimous,  however  they  may  differ  as 
to  other  points  in  the  science.  Must  we  not,  then,  regard  this 
fact  as  one  of  the  settled  principles  of  science  ?  If  so,  who 
will  hesitate  to  say  that  it  ought  to  settle  the  interpretation  of 
the  first  verse  of  Genesis,  in  favor  of  that  meaning  which 


THIS    INTERPRETATION    MEETS    THE    CASE.  61 

allows  an  intervening  period  between  the  creation  of  matter 
and  the  creation  of  light  ?  This  is  the  grand  point  which  I 
have  aimed  to  establish  ;  and,  in  conclusion,  I  beg  leave  to 
make  a  few  remarks  by  way  of  inference. 

First.  This  interpretation  of  Genesis  is  entirely  sufficient 
to  remove  all  apparent  collision  between  geology  and  revela- 
tion. It  gives  the  geologist  full  scope  for  his  largest  specula- 
tions concerning  the  age  of  the  world.  It  permits  him  to 
maintain  that  its  first  condition  was  as  unlike  to  the  present 
as  possible,  and  allows  him  time  enough  for  all  the  changes 
of  mineral  constitution  and  organic  life  which  its  strata  re- 
veal. It  su^^poses  that  all  these  are  passed  over  in  silence  by 
the  sacred  writers,  because  irrelevant  to  the  object  of  revela- 
tion, but  full  of  interest  and  instruction  to  the  men  of  science, 
who  should  afterwards  take  pleasure  in  exploring  the  works 
of  God. 

It  supposes  the  six  days'  work  of  creation  to  have  been 
confined  entirely  to  the  fitting  up  the  world  in  its  present  con- 
dition, and  furnishing  it  with  its  present  inhabitants.  Thus, 
while  it  gives  the  widest  scope  to  the  geologist,  it  does  not 
encroach  upon  the  literalities  of  the  Bible  ;  and  hence  it  is 
not  strange  that  it  shouId.be  almost  universally  adopted  by 
geologists  as  well  as  by  many  eminent  divines. 

I  would  not  forget  to  notice  in  this  connection,  however,  a 
recent  proposed  extension  of  this  interpretation  by  Dr.  John 
Pye  Smith,  founded  on  the  principle  already  illustrated,  that 
the  sacred  writers  adapted  their  language  to  the  state  of 
knowledge  among  the  Jews.  By  the  term  earthy  in  Genesis, 
he  supposes,  was  designed  not  the  whole  terraqueous  globe, 
but  "  the  part  of  our  world  which  God  was  adapting  for  the 
dwelling-place  of  man  and  animals  connected  with  him." 
And  the  narrative  of  the  six  days'  work  is  a  description 
6 


62  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    TJNREVEALED. 

adapted  to  the  ideas  and  capacities  of  mankind  in  the  earliest 
ages,  of  a  series  of  operations,  by  which  the  Being  of  omnipo- 
tent wisdom  and  goodness  adjusted  and  furnished,  not  the  earth 
generally,  but,  as  the  particular  subject  under  consideration 
here,  a  portion  of  its  surface  for  most  glorious  purposes. 
This  portion  of  the  earth  he  conceives  to  have  been  a  large 
part  of  Asia,  lying  between  the  Caucasian  ridge,  the  Cas- 
pian Sea  and  Tartary  on  the  north,  the  Persian  and  Indian 
Seas  on  the  south,  and  the  high  mountain  ridges  which  run 
at  considerable  distance  on  their  eastern  and  western  flanks. 
This  region  was  first,  by  atmospheric  and  geological  causes 
of  previous  operation,  under  the  will  of  the  Almighty,  brought 
into  a  condition  of  superficial  ruin,  or  some  kind  of  general 
disorder,  probably  by  volcanic  agency ;  it  was  submerged, 
covered  with  fogs  and  clouds,  and  subsequently  elevated,  and 
the  atmosphere,  by  the  fourth  day,  rendered  pellucid. — 
Script,  and  Geol.  p.  275,  2d  edit. 

Without  professing  to  adopt  fully  this  view  of  my  learned 
and  venerable  friend,  I  cannot  but  remark,  that  it  explains  one 
or  two  difficulties  on  this  subject,  which  I  shall  more  fully 
explain  farther  on.  One  is,  the  difficulty  of  conceiving  how 
the  inferior  animals  could  have  been  distributed  to  their  present 
places  of  residence  from  a  single  centre  of  creation  without  a 
miracle.  Certain  it  is,  that,  as  the  climate  and  position  of 
land  and  water  now  are,  they  could  not  thus  migrate  without 
certain  destruction  to  many  of  them.  But  by  this  theory  they 
might  have  been  created  within  the  districts  which  they  now 
occupy. 

Another  difficulty  solved  by  this  theory  is,  that  several 
hundred  species  of  animals,  that  were  created  long  before 
man,  as  their  remains  found  in  the  tertiary  strata  show,  still 
survive,  and  there   is  no  evidence  that  they  ever  became 


OTHER   SUPPOSITIONS.  63 

extinct ;  nor  need  they  have  been  destroyed  and  recreated, 
if  Dr.  Smith's  theory  be  true.  Nevertheless,  it  does  not  ap- 
pear to  me  essential  to  a  satisfactory  reconciliation  of  geology 
and  revelation,  that  we  should  adopt  it.  But  coming  from 
such  high  authority,  and  sustained  as  it  is  by  powerful  argu- 
ments, it  commends  itself  to  our  candid  examination. 

Secondly.  I  remark,  that  it  is  not  necessary  that  we  should 
be  perfectly  sure  that  the  method  which  has  been  described, 
or  any  other,  of  bringing  geology  into  harmony  with  the  Bible, 
is  infallibly  true.  It  is  only  necessary  that  it  should  be  sus- 
tained by  probable  e»'idence ;  that  it  should  fairly  meet  the 
geological  difficulty  on  the  one  hand,  and  do  no  violence  to 
the  language  or  spirit  of  the  Bible  on  the  other.  This  is  suf- 
ficient, surely,  to  satisfy  every  philosophical  mind,  that  there 
is  no  collision  between  geology  and  revelation.  But  should 
it  appear  hereafter,  either  from  the  discoveries  of  the  geolo- 
gist or  the  philologist,  that  our  views  must  be  somewhat 
modified,  it  would  not  show  that  the  previous  views  had  been 
insufficient  to  harmonize  the  two  subjects;  but  only  that  here, 
as  in  every  other  department  of  human  knowledge,  perfection 
is  not  attained,  except  by  long-continued  effi^rts. 

I  make  these  remarks,  because  it  is  well  known  that  other 
modes,  besides  that  which  I  have  defended,  have  been  pro- 
posed to  accomplish  the  same  object ;  and  it  is  probable  that, 
even  to  this  day,  one  or  two  of  these  modes  may  be  defended, 
although  the  general  opinion  of  geologists  is  in  favor  of  that 
which  I  have  exhibited. 

Some,  for  instance,  have  supposed  that  the  fossiliferous 
strata  may  all  have  been  deposited  in  the  sixteen  hundred 
years  between  the  creation  and  the  deluge,  and  by  that 
catastrophe  have  been  lifted  out  of  the  ocean.  Others  have 
imagined  them  all  produced   by  that  event.      But  the  most 


64  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

plausible  theory  regards  the  six  days  of  creation  as  periods 
of  great,  though  indefinite  length,  during  which  all  the  changes 
exhibited  by  the  strata  of  rocks  took  place.  The  arguments 
in  defence  of  this  view  are  the  following  :  1.  The  word  day 
is  often  used  in  Scripture  to  express  a  period  of  indefinite 
length.  (Luke  xvii.  24.  John  viii.  56.  Job  xiv.  6.)  2.  The 
sun,  moon,  and  stars  were  not  created  till  the  fourth  day ;  so 
that  the  revolution  of  the  earth  on  its  axis,  in  twenty-four 
hours,  may  not  have  existed  previously,  and  the  light  and 
darkness  that  alternated  may  have  had  reference  to  some 
other  standard.  3.  The  Sabbath,  or  seventh  day,  in  which 
God  rested  from  his  work,  has  not  yet  terminated  ;  and  there 
is  reason  to  suppose  the  demiurgic  days  may  have  been  at 
least  of  equal  length.  4.  This  interpretation  corresponds 
remarkably  with  the  traditional  cosmogonies  of  some  heathen 
nations,  as  the  ancient  Etruscans  and  modern  Hindoos  ;  and 
it  was  also  adopted  by  Philo  and  other  Jewish  writers.  5.  The 
order  of  creation,  as  described  in  Genesis,  corresponds  to  that 
developed  by  geology.  This  order,  according  to  Cuvier  and 
Professor  Jameson,  is  as  follows:  1.  The  earth  was  covered 
with  the  sea  without  inhabitants.  2.  Plants  were  created  on 
the  third  day,  and  are  found  abundantly  in  the  coal  measures. 
3.  On  the  fifth  day,  the  inhabitants  of  the  waters,  then  flying 
things,  then  great  reptiles,  and  then  mammiferous  animals, 
were  created.     4.  On  the  sixth  day,  man  was  created. 

The  following  are  the  objections  to  this  interpretation : 
1.  The  word  day  is  not  used  figuratively  in  other  places  of 
Genesis,  (unless  perhaps  Gen.  ii.  4,)  though  it  is  sometimes  so 
used  in  other  parts  of  Scripture.  2.  In  the  fourth  command- 
ment, where  the  days  of  creation  are  referred  to,  (Exod.  xx. 
9,  10,  11,)  no  one  can  doubt  but  that  the  six  days  of  labor  and 
the  Sabbath,  spoken  of  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  verses,  are  literal 


DAYS,    LONG    PERIODS.  65 

days.  By  what  rule  of  interpretation  can  the  same  word  in 
the  next  verse  be  made  to  mean  indefinite  periods  ?  3.  From 
Gen.  ii.  5,  compared  with  Gen.  i.  11,  12,  it  seems  that  it 
had  not  rained  on  the  earth  till  the  third  day  —  a  fact  alto- 
gether probable  if  the  days  were  of  twenty-four  hours,  but 
absurd  if  they  were  long  periods.  4.  Such  a  meaning  is 
forced  and  unnatural,  and,  therefore,  not  to  be  adopted  with- 
out urgent  necessity.  5.  This  hypothesis  assumes  that  Moses 
describes  the  creation  of  all  the  animals  and  plants  that  have 
ever  lived  on  the  globe.  But  geology  decides  that  the  species 
now  living,  since  they  are  not  found  in  the  rocks  any  lower 
down  than  man  is,  (with  a  few  exceptions,)  could  not  have 
been  contemporaries  with  those  in  the  rocks,  but  must  have 
been  created  when  man  was ;  that  is,  on  the  sixth  day.  Of 
such  a  creation  no  mention  is  made  in  Genesis.  The  infer- 
ence is,  that  Moses  does  not  describe  the  creation  of  the  ex- 
isting races,  but  only  of  those  that  lived  thousands  of  years 
earlier,  and  whose  existence  was  scarcely  suspected  till  mod- 
ern times.  Who  will  admit  such  an  absurdity  }  If  any  one 
takes  the  ground  that  the  existing  races  were  created  with 
the  fossil  ones,  on  the  third  and  fifth  days,  then  he  must  shov/, 
what  no  one  can,  why  the  remains  of  the  former  are  not  found 
mixed  with  the  latter.  6.  Though  there  is  a  general  resem- 
blance between  the  order  of  creation,  as  described  in  Genesis 
and  by  geology,  yet  when  we  look  at  the  details  of  the  crea- 
tion of  the  organic  world,  as  required  by  this  hypothesis,  we 
find  manifest  discrepancy,  instead  of  the  coincidence  asserted 
by  some  distinguished  advocates  of  these  views.  Thus  the 
Bible  represents  plants  only  to  have  been  created  on  the  third 
day,  and  animals  not  till  the  fifth  ;  and  hence,  at  least,  the 
lower  half  of  the  fossiliferous  rocks  ought  to  contain  nothing 
but  vegetables.     Whereas,  in  fact,  the  lower  half  of  these 


66  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

rocks,  all  below  the  carboniferous,  although  abounding  in  ani- 
mals, contain  scarcely  any  plants,  and  those  in  the  lowest 
strata,  fucoids,  or  sea-weeds.  But  the  Mosaic  account  of 
the  third  day's  work  evidently  describes  flowering  and  seed- 
bearing  plants,  not  flowerless  and  seedless  algse.  Again  : 
reptiles  are  described  in  Genesis  as  created  on  the  fifth  day ; 
but  reptilia  and  batrachians  existed  as  early  as  the  time  when 
the  lower  carboniferous,  and  even  old  red  sandstone  strata, 
were  in  a  course  of  deposition,  as  their  tracks  on  those  rocks 
in  Nova  Scotia  and  Pennsylvania  evince.  In  short,  if  we 
maintain  that  Moses  describes  fossil  as  well  as  living  species, 
we  find  discrepancy,  instead  of  correspondence,  between  his 
order  of  creation  and  that  of  geology.  But  admit  that  he 
describes  only  existing  species,  and  all  difficulties  vanish. 

It  appears,  then,  that  the  objections  to  this  interpretation  of 
the  word  day  are  more  geological  than  exegetical.  It  has 
accordingly  been  mostly  abandoned  by  men,  who,  from  their 
knowledge  both  of  geology  and  scriptural  exegesis,  were  best 
qualified  to  judge.  And  even  those  who  are  inclined  to  adopt 
it  do  also  believe  in  the  existence  of  a  long  period  between 
the  beginning  and  the  demiurgic  days.  From  the  earliest 
times,  however,  in  which  we  have  writings  upon  the  Scrip- 
tures, we  find  men  doubting  whether  the  demiurgic  days  of 
Moses  are  to  be  taken  in  a  strictly  literal  sense.  Josephus 
and  Philo  regarded  the  six  days'  work  as  metaphorical.  Ori- 
gen  took  a  similar  view,  and  St.  Augustin  says,  "  It  is  difficult, 
if  not  impossible,  for  us  to  conceive  what  sort  of  days  these 
were."  In  more  modern  times,  we  find  many  able  writers, 
as  Hahn,  Hensler,  De  Luc,  Professors  Lee  and  Wait,  of  the 
University  of  Cambridge,  Faber,  &lc.,  adopting  modifications 
of  the  same  views.  Mr.  Faber,  however,  a  few  years  since, 
abandoned  this  opinion  ;   and  for  the  most  part,  geologists  and 


DR.    KNAPP'S    INTERPRETATION.  67 

theologians  prefer  to  regard  the  six  days  as  literal  days  of 
twenty-four  hours.  But,  generally,  they  would  not  regard  the 
opposite  opinion  to  be  as  unreasonable  as  it  would  be  to  re- 
ject the  Bible  from  any  supposed  collision  with  geology.  Yet, 
in  general,  they  suppose  it  sufficient,  to  meet  all  difficulties,  to 
allow  of  an  indefinite  interval  between  the  "  beginning"  and 
the  six  days'  work  of  creation. 

In  the  truly  scientific  system  of  theology  by  the  venerable 
Dr.  Knapp,  we  find  a  proposed  interpretation  of  the  Mosaic 
account  of  the  creation,  that  would  bring  it  into  harmony  with 
geology.  "  If  we  would  form  a  clear  and  distinct  notion  of 
this  whole  description  of  creation,"  says  he,  "  we  must  con- 
ceive of  six  separate  pictures^  in  which  this  great  work  is  repre- 
sented in  each  successive  stage  of  its  progress  towards  com- 
pletion. And  as  the  performance  of  the  painter,  though  it 
must  have  natural  truth  for  its  foundation,  must  not  be  con- 
sidered, or  judged  of,  as  a  delineation  of  mathematical  or 
scientific  accuracy,  so  neither  must  this  pictorial  representa- 
tion of  the  creation  be  regarded  as  literally  and  exactly  true." 
He  then  alludes  to  the  various  hypotheses  respecting  the  early 
state  of  the  matter  of  the  globe,  and  says,  "  Any  of  these 
hypotheses  of  the  naturalist  may  be  adopted  or  rejected,  the 
Mosaic  geogony  notwithstanding."  * 

Thirdly.  The  interpretation  of  Genesis,  for  which  I  have 
contended    in   this    lecture,   does  not    affect    injuriously   any 

*  For  a  much  more  minute  and  extended  accovmt  of  the  different 
raodes  proposed  to  reconcile  geology  and  revelation,  and  indeed  of 
their  entire  connection,  I  -would  refer  to  several  papers  in  the  Ameri- 
can Biblical  Rej^ository,  especially  to  the  number  for  October,  1835, 
p.  261.  The  progress  of  science  has,  indeed,  rendered  it  desirable  to 
change  a  few  sentences  in  those  articles  ;  but  all  their  essential  prin- 
ciples I  still  maintain. 


68  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

doctrine  of  revelation.  The  community  have,  indeed,  been 
taught  to  believe  that  the  universe  was  all  brought  into  exist- 
ence about  six  thousand  years  ago;  and  it  always  produces  a 
temporary  evil  to  change  the  interpretation  of  a  passage  of 
the  Bible,  even  though,  as  in  this  case,  it  be  the  result  of 
new  light  shed  upon  it ;  because  it  is  apt  to  make  individ- 
uals of  narrow  views  lose  their  confidence  in  the  rales  of 
interpretation.  But  when  the  change  is  once  made,  it  in- 
creases men's  confidence  in  the  Word  of  God,  which  is  only 
purified,  but  not  shaken,  by  all  the  discoveries  of  modern 
science.  In  the  present  case,  it  does  not  seem  to  be  of  the 
least  consequence,  so  far  as  the  great  doctrines  of  the  Bible 
are  concerned,  whether  the  world  has  stood  six  thousand,  or 
six  hundred  thousand  years.  Nor  can  I  conceive  of  any  truth 
of  the  Bible,  which  does  not  shine  with  at  least  equal  bright- 
ness and  glory,  if  the  longest  chronological  dates  be  adopted. 
Yet,  fourthly.  I  maintain  that  several  of  these  doctrines  are 
far  more  strikingly  and  profitably  exhibited,  if  the  high  antiquity 
of  the  globe  be  admitted.  The  common  interpretation  limits 
the  operations  of  the  Deity,  so  far  as  the  material  universe  is 
concerned,  to  the  last  six  thousand  years.  But  the  geological 
view  carries  the  mind  back  along  the  flow  of  countless  ages, 
and  exhibits  the  wisdom  of  the  Deity  carrying  forward,  with 
infinite  skill,  a  vast  series  of  operations,  each  successive  link 
springing  out  of  that  before  it,  and  becoming  more  and  naore 
beautiful,  until  the  glorious  universe  in  which  we  live  comes 
forth,  not  only  the  last,  but  the  best  of  all.  All  this  while, 
too,  we  perceive  the  heart  of  infinite  Benevolence  at  work, 
either  in  fitting  up  the  world  for  its  future  races  of  inhabitants, 
or  in  placing  upon  it  creatures  exactly  adapted  to  its  varying 
condition  ;  until  man,  at  last,  the  crown  of  all,  makes  it  his 
delightful  abode,  with  nothing  to  lament   but  his  own  apos- 


THESE    VIEWS    SHOULD    BE    TAUGHT.  69 

lasy,  —  with  every  thing  perfect  but  himself.  Can  the  mind 
enter  such  an  ahuost  boundless  field  of  contemplation  as  this, 
and  not  feel  itself  refreshed,  and  expanded,  and  filled  with 
more  exalted  conceptions  of  the  divine  plans  and  divine  be- 
nevolence than  could  possibly  be  obtained  within  the  narrow 
limits  of  six  thousand  years  ?  But  I  will  not  enlarge  ;  for  I 
hope  I  may  be  allowed,  in  future  lectures,  to  enter  this  rich 
field  of  thought,  when  we  have  more  leisure  to  survey  its 
beautiful  prospects,  and  pluck  its  golden  fruit. 

Finally.  If  the  geological  interpretation  of  Genesis  be  true, 
then  it  should  be  taught  to  all  classes  of  the  community.  It 
is,  indeed,  unwise  to  alter  received  interpretations  of  Scripture 
without  very  strong  reasons.  We  should  be  satisfied  that  the 
new  light,  which  has  come  to  us,  is  not  that  of  a  transient 
meteor,  but  of  a  permanent  luminary.  We  should,  also,  be 
satisfied,  that  the  proposed  change  is  consistent  with  the  estab- 
lished rules  of  philology.  If  we  introduce  change  of  this  sort 
before  these  points  are  settled,  even  upon  passages  that  have 
no  connection  with  fundamental  moral  principles,  we  shall 
distress  many  an  honest  and  pious  heart,  and  expose  ourselves 
to  the  necesshy  of  further  change.  But  on  the  other  hand, 
if  we  delay  the  change  long  after  these  points  are  fairly  set- 
tled, we  shall  excite  the  suspicion  that  we  dread  to  have  the 
light  of  science  fall  upon  the  Bible.  Nor  let  it  be  forgotten 
how  disastrous  has  ever  been  the  influence  of  the  opinion  that 
theologians  teach  one  thing,  and  men  of  science  another. 
Now,  in  the  case  under  consideration,  is  there  any  reason  to 
doubt  the  high  antiquity  of  the  globe,  as  demonstrated  by 
geology  ?  If  any  point,  not  capable  of  mathematical  demon- 
stration in  physical  science,  is  proved,  surely  this  truth  is 
established.  And  how  easily  reconciled  to  the  inspired  record, 
by  an  interpretation  entirely  consistent  with  the  rules  of  phi- 


70  EPOCH    OF    THE    EARTH's    CREATION    UNREVEALED. 

lology,  and  with  the  scope  of  the  passage,  and  the  tenor  of  the 
Bible  !  It  seems  to  me  far  more  natural,  and  easy  to  under- 
stand, than  that  interpretation  which  it  became  necessary  to 
introduce  when  the  Copernican  system  was  demonstrated  to 
be  true.  The  latter  must  have  seemed  to  conflict  strongly 
with  the  natural  and  most  obvious  meaning  of  certain  passages 
of  the  Bible,  at  a  time  when  men's  minds  were  ignorant  of 
astronomy,  and,  I  may  add,  of  the  true  mode  of  interpreting 
the  language  of  Scripture  respecting  natural  phenomena. 
Nevertheless,  the  astronomical  exegesis  prevailed,  and  every 
child  can  now  see  its  reasonableness.  So  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  child  can  easily  apprehend  the  geological  interpretation 
and  its  reasons.  Why,  then,  should  it  not  be  taught  to  chil- 
dren, that  they  may  not  be  liable  to  distrust  the  whole  Bible, 
when  they  come  to  the  study  of  geology  ?  I  rejoice,  how- 
ever, that  the  fears  and  prejudices  of  the  pious  and  the  learned 
are  so  fast  yielding  to  evidence ;  and  I  anticipate  the  period, 
when,  on  this  subject,  the  child  will  learn  the  same  thing  in 
the  Sabbath  school  and  the  literary  institution.  Nay,  I  an- 
ticipate the  time  as  not  distant,  when  the  high  antiquity  of  the 
globe  will  be  regarded  as  no  more  opposed  to  the  Bible  than 
the  earth's  revolution  round  the  sun  and  on  its  axis.  Soon  shall 
the  horizon,  where  geology  and  revelation  meet,  be  cleared 
of  every  cloud,  and  present  only  an  unbroken  and  magnificent 
circle  of  truth. 


(71) 


LECTURE     III.  - 

DEATH  A  UNIVERSAL   LAAV   OF   ORGANIC   BEINGS   ON 
THIS   GLOBE   FROM  THE  BEGINNING. 

Death  has  always  been  regarded  by  man  as  the  king  of 
terrors,  and  the  climax  of  all  mortal  evils  ;  and  by  Christians 
its  introduction  into  the  world  has  generally  been  imputed  to 
the  apostasy  of  our  first  parents.  For  the  threatening  an- 
nounced to  them  in  Eden  was,  In  the  day  thou  eatest  of  the 
forbidden  fruit  thou  shalt  surely  die^  implying  that  if  they 
did  not  eat  thereof  they  might  live.  But  when  the  ivoman  saw 
the  tree  was  good  for  food,  and  that  it  teas  pleasant  to  the 
eyes,  and  a  tree  to  be  desired  to  make  one  wise,  she  took  of  the 
fruit  thereof  and  did  eat,  and  gave  also  to  her  husband  with 
her,  and  he  did  eat.  As  the  result,  it  is  generally  supposed 
that  a  great  change  took  place  in  animals  and  plants,  and  from 
being  immortal,  they  became  mortal,  in  consequence  of  this 
fatal  deed.  But  geology  asserts  that  death  existed  in  the 
world  untold  ages  before  man's  creation,  while  physiology 
declares  it  to  be  a  universal  law  of  nature,  and  a  wise  and 
benevolent  provision  in  such  a  world  as  ours.  Now,  the  ques- 
tion is.  Do  not  these  different  statements  conflict  with  one 
another  ?  and  if  so,  is  the  discrepancy  apparent  only,  or  real  ? 
These  are  the  questions  which  I  now  propose  to  examine,  by 
all  the  light  which  we  can  obtain  from  the  Bible  and  from 
science. 

The  first  point  to  be  ascei^tained  in  this  investigation  will 
be,  what  the  Bible  teaches  on  this  subject. 


72  DEATH   A   UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

In  the  first  place,  it  distinctly  informs  us  that  the  death 
which  man  experiences,  came  upon  him  in  consequence 
of  sin. 

The  declaration  of  Paul  on  this  subject  is  as  distinct  as  lan- 
guage can  be.  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  worlds  and 
death  by  sin,  and  so  death  passed  upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have 
sinned.  This  corresponds  with  the  original  threatening  re- 
specting the  forbidden  fruit.  We  know  that  our  first  parents 
ate  of  it ;  we  know,  also,  that  they  died ;  and  the  apostle 
places  these  two  facts  in  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect. 

In  the  second  place,  the  Bible  does  not  inform  us  whether 
the  death  of  the  inferior  animals  and  plants  is  the  consequence 
of  man's  transgression. 

In  order  to  prove  this  statement,  it  is  necessary  to  show  that 
the  language  of  the  Bible,  which  distinctly  ascribes  the  intro- 
duction of  death  into  the  world,  is  limhed  to  man.  The  first 
part  of  the  sentence  from  Paul,  just  quoted,  is  indeed  very 
general,  and  may  include  all  organic  natures.  By  one  man 
sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  death  hy  sin.  What  terms 
more  general  or  explicit  than  these  could  be  used  ?  Yet 
the  remainder  of  the  sentence  shows  that  the  apostle  had  man 
mainly  in  his  eye  ;  and  so  deaf h  passed  upo?i  all  men,  for  that 
all  have  sinned.  The  death  here  spoken  of  is  limited  ex- 
pressly to  man ;  and,  therefore,  it  is  not  necessary  to  show 
that  the  same  terms,  in  the  first  part  of  the  sentence,  had  a 
more  extended  meaning.  Death  is  spoken  of  here  as  the 
result  of  sin,  and  cannot,  therefore,  embrace  animals  and 
plants,  which  are  incapable  of  sin.  But  after  all,  the  first 
part  of  the  sentence  may  intend  to  teach  a  general  truth  re- 
specting the  origin  of  every  kind  of  death  in  the  world.  It 
will  be  seen  in  the  sequel,  that  to  such  a  meaning  I  have  no 
objection,  if  it  can  be  established. 


DEATH  BEFORE  MAN.  73 

Another  very  explicit  passage  on  the  introduction  of  death 
into  the  world  is  found  in  Corinthians :  Since  by  man  came 
deaths  by  man  came  also  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  Here, 
too,  the  last  clause  of  the  sentence  limits  the  meaning  to  the 
human  family.  For  no  one  will  doubt  that  Christ  is  the  man 
here  spoken  of,  by  whom  came  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 
Now,  unless  the  inferior  animals  and  plants  will  share  in  a 
resurrection  in  consequence  of  what  Christ  has  done,  and  in 
the  redemption  wrought  out  by  him  too,  they  cannot  be  in- 
cluded in  this  passage.  And  if  neither  of  the  texts  now  quoted 
extend  in  their  application  beyond  the  human  race,  I  know 
of  no  other  passage  in  the  Bible  that  teaches,  directly  or  infer- 
entially,  that  death  among  the  inferior  animals  or  plants  re- 
sulted from  man's  apostasy.  I  do  not  deny  that  there  may 
be  a  connection  between  these  events ;  certainly  the  Scrip- 
tures do  not  teach  the  contrary.  But  they  appear  to  me  rather 
to  leave  the  question  of  such  a  connection  undecided,  and 
open  for  the  examination  of  philosophers.  If  so,  we  may 
reason  concerning  the  dissolution  of  animals,  except  men, 
without  reference  to  the  Scriptures. 

Under  the  second  part  of  this  investigation,  I  shall  endeavor 
to  show  that  geology  proves  violent  and  painful  death  to  have 
existed  in  the  world  long  before  man''s  creation. 

In  the  oldest  of  the  sedimentary  rocks,  the  remains  of  ani- 
mals occur  in  vast  numbers;  nor  will  any  one,  I  trust,  of 
ordinary  intelligence,  doubt  but  these  relics  once  constituted 
living  beings.  Through  the  whole  series  of  rocks,  six  miles 
in  thickness,  we  find  similar  remains,  even  increasing  in  num- 
bers as  we  ascend  ;  but  it  is  not  till  we  reach  the  very  highest 
stratum,  the  mere  superficial  coat  of  alluvium,  that  we  find 
the  remains  of  man.  The  vast  multitudes,  then,  of  organ- 
ized beings  that  lie  entombed  in  rocks  below  alluvium,  must 
7 


74  DEATH    A   UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

have  yielded  to  death  long  before  man  received  his  sentence, 
Dust  thou  art,  and  to  dust  shalt  thou  return.  Will  any  one 
maintain  that  none  of  these  animals  preceded  man  in  the 
period  of  their  existence  ?  .  Then  why  are  the  remains  of  men 
not  found  with  theirs  ?  for  his  bony  skeleton  is  as  likely  to 
be  preserved  and  petrified  as  theirs.  Moreover,  so  unlike  to 
man  and  other  existing  tenants  of  the  globe  are  many  of  these 
ancient  animals,  that  the  sure  laws  of  comparative  anatomy 
show  us,  that  both  races  could  not  live  and  flourish  in  a  world 
adapted  to  the  one  or  the  other.  If  the  temperature  had  been 
warm  enough  for  the  fossil  tribes,  and  all'  the  circumstances 
of  food  and  climate  congenial  to  their  natures,  they  would 
have  been  unsuited  to  the  present  races  ;  and  if  adapted  to  the 
latter,  the  former  must  have  perished.  The  difference  be- 
tween the  animals  and  plants  dug  out  of  the  rocks  in  this  lati- 
tude, and  those  now  inhabiting  the  same  region  of  country,  is 
certainly  as  great  as  that  between  the  animals  and  plants  of 
the  torrid  and  temperate  zones  ;  in  most  cases  it  is  greater. 
Now,  suppose  that  the  animals  and  plants  of  the  temperate 
zones  were  to  change  places  with  those  between  the  tropics. 
A  few  species  might  survive,  but  the  greater  part  would  be 
destroyed.  Hence,  a  fortiori,  had  the  living  beings  now  en- 
tombed in  the  rocks  been  placed  in  the  same  climate  with 
those  now  alive  upon  the  globe,  the  like  result  would  have 
followed.  I  say  a  fortiori ;  that  is,  for  a  stronger  reason, 
the  greater  number  must  have  perished ;  and  the  stronger 
reason  is,  the  greater  difTerence  between  fossil  and  living  spe- 
cies, than  between  the  latter  in  torrid  and  temperate  latitudes. 
It  is  true  that  man  is  among  the  species  capable  of  being 
acclimated  to  great  extremes.  And  yet  no  physiologist  will 
imagine  that  even  his  nature  could  have  long  survived  in  such 
a  climate  as  formerly  existed,  when  probably  the  atmosphere 


ANIMALS  ADAPTED  TO  THE  STATE  OF  THE  EARTH.    75 

was  loaded  with  carbonic  acid  and  other  mephitic  gases,  and 
with  moisture  and  miasms,  the  result  of  a  rank  vegetation, 
and  of  a  temperature  higher  than  now  exists  in  equatorial 
countries. 

This  argument,  furnished  by  comparative  anatomy,  to  show 
that  man  and  the  fossil  animals  could  not  have  been  contem- 
poraries, will  probably  seem  to  have  little  force  to  those  who 
are  not  familiar  with  the  history  of  organic  life  on  the  globe, 
and  the  distribution  of  species.  It  is  not  generally  known 
that  both  animals  and  plants  are  usually  confined  to  a  partic- 
ular district,  and  that  a  removal  beyond  its  boundaries,  or  the 
access  of  a  few  more  degrees  of  cold,  or  heat,  than  is  com- 
mon in  the  place  assigned  them  by  nature,  will  destroy  them. 
To  him  who  understands  this  curious  history,  the  argument 
under  consideration  is  perfectly  satisfactory,  to  prove  the  ex- 
istence and  consequent  dissolution  of  myriads  of  living  beings, 
anterior  to  man.  "  Judging  by  these  indications  of  the  habits 
of  the  animals,"  says  the  distinguished  anatomist,  Sir  Charles 
Bell,  "  we  acquire  a  knowledge  of  the  condition  of  the  earth 
during  their  period  of  existence  ;  that  it  was  suited  at  one  time 
to  the  scaly  tribe  of  the  lacertse,  with  languid  motion  ;  at 
another,  to  animals  of  higher  organization,  with  more  varied 
and  lively  habits  ;  and  finally,  we  learn  that  at  any  period  pre- 
vious to  man's  creation,  the  surface  of  the  earth  would  have 
been  unsuitable  to  him.  Any  other  hypothesis  than  that  of  a 
new  creation  of  animals,  suited  to  the  successive  changes  in 
the  inorganic  matter  of  the  globe,  the  condition  of  the  water, 
atmosphere,  and  temperature,  brings  with  it  only  an  accumu- 
lation of  difficulties." — The  Hand,  its  Mech.,  6lc.  pp.  31 
and  115. 

But  when  arguing  with  those  who  do  not  feel  the  force  of 
this  argument,  I  would  fall  back  upon  that  derived  from  the 


76  DEATH    A   UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

fact,  that  of  the  ten  thousand  species  of  animals  dug  out  of 
the  rocks  beneath  alluvium,  no  relic  of  man  has  been  found  ; 
and  ask  them  whether  tiiey  can  explain  such  a  fact,  except 
by  the  supposition  that  man  was  not  their  contemporary. 

In  his  admirable  Bridge  water  Treatise,  Dr.  Buckland  has 
conclusively  shown  that  the  same  great  system  of  organiza- 
tion and  adaptation  has  always  prevailed  on  the  globe.  It  was 
the  same  in  those  immensely  remote  ages,  when  the  fossil 
animals  lived,  as  it  now  is.  And  there  is  one  feature  of  that 
system  which  deserves  notice  in  this  argument.  At  present, 
we  know  that  there  exist  large  tribes  of  animals,  called  car- 
nivorous, provided  with  organs  expressly  designed  to  enable 
them  to  destroy  other  animals,  and  of  course  to  inflict  on 
them  violent  and  painful  death.  Exactly  similar  tribes,  and 
in  a  like  proportion,  are  found  among  the  fossil  animals. 
They  were  not  always  the  same  tribes ;  but  when  one  class 
of  carnivora  disappeared,  another  was  created  to  take  their 
place,  in  order  to  keep  down  the  excessive  multiplication  of 
other  races,  which  appears  to  be  the  grand  object  accom- 
plished by  the  carnivorous  races.  And  that  animals  of  such 
an  organization  not  only  lived  in  the  ages  preceding  man's 
creation,  but  actually  destroyed  contemporary  species,  we 
have  the  evidence  in  the  remains  of  the  one  animal  enclosed 
in  the  body  of  another,  by  whom  it  was  devoured  for  food  ; 
and  both  are  now  converted  into  rock,  and  will  testify  to  the 
most  sceptical,  that  death  among  animals  existed  in  the  world 
before  man's  transgression. 

Under  the  third  part  of  this  investigation^  I  shall  attempt 
to  show  that  physiology  teaches  us  that  death  is  a  general  law 
of  organic  natures. 

It  is  not  confined  to  animals,  but  embraces  also  plants.  As 
they  correspond   in  a  striking  manner  to  animals  in  their 


DEATH    INEVITABLE.  77 

reproduction  and  growth,  so  they  do  in  their  decay  and  disso- 
lution. In  short,  wherever  in  nature  we  find  life  and  organi- 
zation, death  is  inevitable.  The  amount  of  vital  energy  varies 
in  different  species,  and  in  individuals  ;  but  in  them  all,  it  at 
length  becomes  exhausted,  and  the  functions  cease.  After  a 
certain  period,  the  vessels  which  convey  the  nutritive  mate- 
rials, and  elaborate  the  proximate  principles,  become  choked 
with  excrementitious  matter,  assimilation  is  performed  imper- 
fectly, and  gradually  the  vital  energies  are  overpowered,  and 
yield  up  their  charge  to  the  disorganizing  power  of  chemical 
agencies.  We  can  hardly  see  why  the  delicate  machinery 
cannot  hold  out  longer  than  it  does,  or  even  indefinitely.  But 
experience  shows  us  that  an  irresistible  law  of  nature  has  fixed 
the  period  of  its  operations.  In  the  expressive  language  of 
Scripture,  which  applies  to  plants  as  well  as  animals,  there  is 
no  discharge  in  that  war. 

A  little  reflection  will  convince  any  one,  that  in  such  a  sys- 
tem as  exists  in  the  world,  this  universal  decay  and  dissolution 
are  indispensable.  For  dead  organic  matter  is  essential  to 
the  support  and  nourishment  of  living  beings.  Admit,  for  the 
sake  of  the  argument,  (although  it  is  obviously  absurd  in  re- 
spect to  the  carnivorous  races,)  that  animals  might  be  sup- 
ported by  vegetable  food.  Yet,  if  plants  must  furnish  nour- 
ishment for  their  successors,  as  well  as  for  animals,  the  organic 
matter  must  at  length  be  exhausted.  And,  furthermore,  how 
could  animals  feed  on  plants  without  destroying,  as  they  now 
do,  multitudes  of  minute  insects  and  animalcules?  It  is  ob- 
vious, also,  that,  for  a  variety  of  reasons,  the  multiplication 
of  animals  must  soon  be  arrested,  or  famine  would  be  the 
result,  or  the  world  would  be  more  than  full.  In  short,  it 
would  require  an  entirely  different  system  in  nature  from  the 
present,  in  order  to  exclude  death  from  the  world.  To  the 
7* 


78  DEATH    A    UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

existing  system  it  is  as  essential  as  gravitation,  and  apparently- 
just  as  much  a  law  of  nature. 

To  strengthen  this  argument  still  further,  comparative  anat- 
omy testifies  that  large  classes  of  animals  have  a  structure 
evidently  intended  to  enable  them  to  feed  on  other  tribes. 
The  teeth  of  the  more  perfect  carnivorous  animals  are  adapted 
for  seizing  and  tearing  their  prey,  while  those  which  feed  on 
vegetables  have  cutting  and  grinding  teeth,  but  not  the  canine. 
So  the  whole  digestive  apparatus  in  the  carnivora  is  more 
simple, and  of  less  extent,  than  in  the  herbivorous  tribes,  while 
in  the  former  the  gastric  juice  acts  more  readily  upon  flesh,  and 
in  the  latter  upon  vegetables.  The  muscular  apparatus,  also,  is 
developed  in  greater  power  in  the  former  than  in  the  latter,  espe- 
cially in  the  neck  and  fore  paw.  Throughout  all  the  classes  of 
animals,  those  which  feed  on  flesh  are  armed  with  poisonous 
fangs,  or  talons,  or  beaks,  or  other  formidable  weapons,  while 
the  vegetable  feeders  are  usually  in  a  great  measure  defence- 
less. In  short,  in  the  one  class  we  find  a  perfect  adaptation, 
in  all  the  organs,  for  destroying,  digesting,  and  assimilating 
other  animals,  and  in  the  other  class,  an  arrangement,  equally 
obvious,  for  procuring  and  digesting  vegetables.  Indeed,  you 
need  only  show  the  anatomist  the  skeleton,  or  even  a  very 
small  part  of  the  skeleton,  of  an  unknown  animal,  to  enable 
him,  in  most  cases,  to  decide,  what  is  the  food  of  that  animal, 
with  almost  as  much  certainty  as  if  he  had  for  years  observed 
its  habits.  Who  can  doubt,  then,  that  when  a  carnivorous 
animal  employs  the  weapons  with  which  nature  has  furnished 
it  for  the  destruction  of  another  animal,  in  order  to  satisfy 
its  hunger,  that  it  acts  in  obedience  to  a  law  of  its  being,  origi- 
nally impressed  upon  its  constitution  by  the  Creator  r  It  is 
true,  that  even  the  flesh-eaiing  animals  may  be  taught  for  a 
\\mp  to  subsist  upon  vegetable  products.     But  this  is  unnatural ; 


WHY    DEATH    MUST    TAKE    PLACE.  79 

and  such  an  animal  usually  pays  the  price  of  thus  inverting 
its  original  instinct,  by  disease  and  premature  decay.  In  a 
state  of  nature,  an  animal  would  starve  rather  than  thus  vio- 
late its  instinctive  desires. 

I  will  allude  to  only  one  other  fact,  that  shows  death  to  be 
inseparable  from  organized  beings,  without  a  constant  mirac- 
ulous interference,  in  such  a  world  as  ours.  Animal  organi- 
zation, in  all  conceivable  circumstances,  must  be  liable  to 
accident,  from  mere  mechanical  force,  by  which  life  would 
be  destroyed.  It  may  be  possible,  perhaps,  to  conceive  of  a 
material  tenement  for  the  soul,  which  should  be  unaffected  by 
all  forms  of  mechanical  violence  and  chemical  action;  if,  for 
instance,  its  constitution  were  analogous  to  that  supposed 
medium  through  which  light,  heat,  and  electricity,  and  per- 
haps gravitation,  act.  But,  surely,  our  present  bodies  are  far 
enough  removed  from  such  conditions,  being  of  all  terrestrial 
things  the  most  liable  to  ruin  from  the  causes  above  mentioned. 

The  conclusions  from  all  these  facts  and  reasonings  are, 
that  death  is  an  essential  feature  of  the  present  system  of 
organized  nature  ;  that  it  must  have  entered  into  the  plan  of 
creation  in  the  divine  mind  originally,  and  consequently  must 
have  existed  in  the  world  before  the  apostasy  of  man.  VVhether 
the  entire  system  of  death  had  any  connection  with  that  event, 
or  whether  there  is  any  thing  peculiar  in  the  death  endured 
by  the  human  family,  will  be  questions  for  examination  in  a 
subsequent  part  of  my  lecture. 

In  opposition  to  these  conclusions,  however,  the  common 
theory  of  death  maintains  that,  when  man  transgressed,  there 
was  an  entire  change  throughout  all  organic  nature ;  so  that 
animals  and  plants,  which  before  contained  a  principle  of  im- 
mortal life,  were  smitten  with  the  hereditary  contagion  of 
disease  and  death.     Those  animals  which,  before  that  event, 


80  DEATH    A    UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

were  gentle  and  herbivorous,  or  frugivorous,  suddenly  became 
ferocious  or  carnivorous.  The  climate,  too,  changed,  and 
the  sterile  soil  sent  forth  the  thorn  and  the  thistle,  in  the  place 
of  the  rich  flowers  and  fruits  of  Eden.  The  great  English 
poet,  in  his  Paradise  Lost,  has  clothed  this  hypothesis  in  a 
most  graphic  and  philosophical  dress ;  and  probably  his  de- 
scriptions have  done  more  than  the  Bible  to  give  it  currency. 
Indeed,  could  the  truth  be  known,  I  fancy  that,  on  many  points 
of  secondary  importance,  the  current  theology  of  the  day  has 
been  shaped  quite  as  much  by  the  ingenious  machinery  of 
Paradise  Lost  as  by  the  Scriptures ;  the  theologians  having 
so  mixed  up  the  ideas  of  Milton  with  those  derived  from 
inspiration,  that  they  find  it  difficult  to  distinguish  between 
them. 

In  the  case  under  consideration,  Milton  does  not  limit  the 
change  induced  by  man's  apostasy  to  sublunary  things,  but, 
like  a  sagacious  philosopher,  perceives,  also,  that  the  heavenly 
bodies  must  have  been  diverted  from  their  paths. 

'*  At  that  tasted  fruit, 
The  sun,  as  from  Thyestian  banquet,  turned 
His  course  intended ;  else  how  had  the  world 
Inhabited,  though  sinless,  more  than  now, 
Avoided  pinching  cold  and  scorching  heat  ? " 

This  change  of  the  sun's  path,  as  the  poet  well  knew,  could 
be  effected  only  by  some  change  in  the  motion  of  the  earth. 

*«  Some  say  he  bid  the  angels  turn  askance 
The  poles  of  earth,  twice  ten  degrees  and  more, 
From  the  sun's  axle  ;  they  with  labor  pushed 
Oblique  the  centric  globe." 


CHANGES    AT  THE    FALL.  81 

Next  we  have  the  effect  upon  the  lower  orders  of  animals 
described. 

"  Discord  first, 
Daughter  of  sin,  among  the  irrational 
Death  introduced :  through  fierce  antipathy, 
Beast  now  with  beast  'gan  war,  and  fowl  with  fowl, 

And  fish  with  fish  ;  to  graze  the  herb  all  leaving, 
Devoured  each  other." 

The  question  arises  here,  whether  such  views  are  sustained 
by  the  Bible  and  by  science.  Few,  I  presume,  would  se- 
riously maintain  that  the  act  of  our  first  parents,  which  pro- 
duced what  Dr.  Chalmers  calls  "an  unhingement"  of  the 
human  race,  resulted  likewise  in  a  change  in  the  motion  of 
the  earth  and  the  heavenly  bodies  ;  since  the  Bible  so  clearly 
describes  the  previous  ordination  of  days,  years,  and  seasons, 
on  the  fourth  day  of  creation.  And  is  there  any  thing  in  the 
language  of  the  Bible  that  will  justify  the  opinion  that  such 
changes  as  this  theory  supposes  took  place  in  the  produc- 
tions of  the  earth,  and  in  the  nature  of  its  animals.?  No  anat- 
omist can  surely  be  made  to  believe  that,  without  a  constant 
miracle,  our  carnivorous  animals  can  have  become  herbivorous, 
without  such  a  change  in  their  organization  as  must  have 
amounted  to  a  new  creation.  And  such  a  metamorphosis  can 
hardly  have  passed  unnoticed  by  the  sacred  writer.  True, 
only  the  gramineous  and  herbaceous  substances  are  in  the 
Bible  given  to  the  inferior  animals  for  food,  while  the  fruits 
are  assigned  to  man.  But  this  passage  seems  only  to  be  a 
designation  of  one  part  of  vegetable  productions  to  men,  and 
another  to  other  animals,  and  can  hardly  be  supposed  to  pre- 
clude the  idea  that  there  might  be  other  tribes  requiring  ani- 
mal food. 


82  DEATH    A    UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

The  sentence  pronounced  upon  the  serpent  for  his  agency 
in  man's  apostasy  seems,  at  first  view,  favorable  to  the  opin- 
ion that  animal  natures  experienced  at  the  same  time  impor- 
tant changes  ;  for  he  is  supposed  to  have  been  deprived  of 
limbs,  and  condemned  henceforth  to  crawl  upon  the  earth, 
and  to  make  the  dust  his  food.  But  is  it  the  most  probable 
interpretation  of  this  passage,  which  makes  the  tempter  a  lit- 
eral serpent,  or  only  a  symbolical  one  ?  The  naturalist  does 
not  surely  find  that  serpents  live  upon  dust,  for  they  all  are 
carnivorous,  and  they  are  as  perfectly  adapted  to  crawl  upon 
the  ground  as  other  animals  to  different  modes  of  progression  : 
and  though  cursed  above  all  cattle,  they  are  apparently  as 
happy  as  other  animals.  Hence  the  probability  is,  that  an 
evil  spirit  is  described  in  Genesis  under  the  name  and  figure 
of  a  serpent.  This  conclusion  is  supported  by  other  parts  of 
Scripture,  where  the  tempter  is  in  several  places  declared  to 
be  the  devil,  the  old  serpent,  and  the  great  dragon. 

A  part  of  the  sentence  passed  upon  man  seems,  also,  at 
first  view,  to  imply  an  important  change  in  the  vegetable  pro- 
ductions of  the  earth ;  for  the  ground  is  cursed  for  man's 
sake :  it  would  henceforth  produce  to  him  thorns  and  thistles, 
and  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow  must  he  eat  of  the  fruits  of  it, 
all  the  days  of  his  life.  Now,  will  not  the  condition  and 
character  of  Adam  show  how  this  curse  might  be  fulfilled, 
without  any  change  in  the  productions  of  the  soil  ?  The 
garden  of  Eden,  where  man  had  lived  in  his  innocence,  was 
doubtless  some  sunny  and  balmy  spot,  where  the  air  was  de- 
licious, and  the  earth  poured  forth  her  abundant  fruits  spon- 
taneously ;  and  although  he  v/as  called  to  keep  and  dress  that 
garden,  yet,  with  a  contented  and  holy  heart,  and  with  no  fac- 
titious wants,  the  work  was  neither  labor  nor  sorrow.  But 
now  he  is  driven  from  that  garden  into  regions  far  less  fertile, 


DEATH  BEFORE  THE  FALL.  83 

where  the  sterile  soil  can  be  made  to  yield  its  fruits  only  by 
the  sweat  of  the  brow,  and  where  the  thorn  and  the  thistle 
dispute  their  right  of  soil  with  salutary  plants ;  and  in  his 
heart,  too,  unholy  and  unsubdued  passions  have  place,  which 
will  infuse  sorrow  into  all  his  labors. 

As  I  have  remarked  in  another  place,  I  cannot  see  why  the 
functions  of  animal  and  vegetable  organization  might  not 
have  gone  on  forever  without  decay  and  death,  if  such  had 
been  the  Creator's  will.  In  other  words,  I  do  not  see  why 
the  operation  of  the  organs  should  at  length  be  impeded  and 
cease,  as  we  know  they  do  universally.  Hence  I  can 
conceive  that  it  might  have  been  otherwise  originally ;  and  in 
the  case  of  man  it  is  possible,  as  we  shall  see  farther  on,  that 
a  change  of  this  sort  may  have  taken  place  at  the  time  of  his 
apostasy.  But,  after  all,  it  strikes  me  that  the  Bible  furnishes 
very  clear  evidence  that  the  same  system  of  decay  and  death 
prevailed  before  the  apostasy  which  now  prevails.  The  com- 
mand given,  both  to  animals  and  to  man,  to  be  fruitful  and 
multiply,  implies  the  removal  of  successive  races  by  death ; 
otherwise  the  world  would  ere  long  be  overstocked.  A  sys- 
tem of  death  is  certainly  a  necessary  counterpart  to  a  system 
of  reproduction  ;  and  hence,  where  we  know  the  one  to  exist, 
the  presumption  is  very  strong  that  the  other  exists  also. 
There  is  no  escape  from  this  inference,  except  to  call  in  the 
aid  of  miraculous  power  to  preserve  the  proper  balance 
among  different  races  of  animals,  by  preventing  their  mul- 
tiplication. Such  an  interference  I  am  always  ready  to 
admit,  where  the  Scriptures  assert  it.  But  to  imagine  a  mir- 
acle without  proof,  merely  to  escape  a  fair  conclusion,  is,  to 
say  the  least,  very  wretched  logic.  God  never  introduces  a 
miracle  where  he  can  employ  the  ordinary  agency  of  nature 
for  accomplishing  his  purposes.     Nor  should  we  resort  to  one 


84  DEATH    A    UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

without  the  express  testimony  of  the  Bible,  which,  on  this 
subject,  is  our  only  source  of  evidence. 

We  have  in  Scripture  the  same  kind  of  proof  that  plants 
were  subject  to  decay  and  death,  before  the  fall,  as  we  have 
in  respect  to  animals.  For  in  the  account  of  the  creation  of 
plants  on  the  third  day,  we  find  them  described  as  bearing 
seeds ;  and  does  not  this  clearly  imply  the  same  system  of 
reproduction  which  now  exists  throughout  the  vegetable  king- 
dom.''  In  short,  an  unprejudiced  mind,  in  reading  the  history 
of  the  world  in  Genesis,  before  and  after  the  fall,  can  hardly 
fail  of  the  conviction,  that  animals  and  plants  were  originally 
created  on  the  same  plan,  as  to  reproduction,  decay,  and 
death,  which  now  prevails.  Great,  indeed,  must  have  been 
the  change  at  the  fall,  if,  previous  to  that  time,  their  structure 
excluded  all  the  organs  and  means  of  reproduction  ;  as  must 
have  been  the  case  if  decay  and  death  were  also  excluded. 
And  it  is  strange  that  the  sacred  writer  should  take  no  notice 
of  such  a  change.  He  states  the  effect  of  sin  upon  the  three 
parties  directly  concerned  in  it,  viz.,  the  tempter,  Adam,  and 
Eve ;  and  if  a  transformation  of  all  vegetable  and  animal 
natures,  great  enough  almost  to  constitute  a  new  creation, 
did  take  place,  it  could  hardly  have  been  passed  in  silence. 
Even  in  the  case  of  man,  we  have  no  remarkable  physical 
change.  The  effect  seems  to  have  been  chiefly  confined  to 
his  intellectual  constitution,  where  we  should  expect  the  effect 
of  sin  to  be  primarily  felt.  There,  indeed,  in  man's  noblest 
part,  has  the  havoc  been  the  most  terrific,  and  powerfully  has 
its  operation  there  reacted  upon  the  body,  so  as  to  make  death, 
in  the  case  of  man,  the  king  of  terrors. 

We  find,  then,  insuperable  objections  to  the  prevalent 
notion  that  an  entire  revolution  took  place  at  the  fall  in  the 
material  world,  and  especially  in  organic   nature.     Those 


DEATH    A   BENEVOLENT    PROVISION.  QS 

passages  of  Scripture  which,  literally  interpreted,  seem  to 
imply  some  changes  of  this  sort,  are  easily  understood  as 
vivid  figurative  representations  of  the  etfecis  of  sin  upon 
men,  while  their  literal  interpretation  would  involve  us  in  in- 
extricable difficulties.  We  rest,  therefore,  in  the  conclusion, 
that,  whatever  connection  there  may  be  between  death  and 
the  existing  system  of  organic  and  inorganic  nature,  no  im- 
portant change  took  place  at  the  time  of  man's  first  transgres- 
sion ;  in  other  words,  the  present  system  is  that  which  was 
originally  determined  upon  in  the  divine  mind,  and  not  the 
original  plan  altered  after  man's  transgression. 

The  fourth  step  in  the  investigation  of  this  suhject  leads 
me  to  attempt  to  show  that,  in  the  present  system  of  the  worlds 
death,  to  the  inferior  animals,  is  a  benevolent  provision,  and 
to  man,  also,  lahen  not  aggravated  or  converted  into  a  curse 
hy  his  own  sin. 

In  examining  this  point,  as  well  as  many  others  in  natural 
theology,  where  the  existence  of  evil  is  concerned,  we  must 
assume  that  the  present  system  of  the  world  is  the  best  which 
infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence  could  devise.  And  this  we 
may  consistently  do.  For  the  prominent  design  throughout 
nature  appears  to  be  beneficial  to  animal  natures,  and  suffer- 
ing is  only  incidental,  and  happiness,  moreover,  is  super- 
added to  the  functions  of  animals,  where  it  is  unnecessary  to 
the  perfect  performance  of  the  function.  We  may  be  cer- 
tain, therefore,  that  the  Author  of  such  a  system  can  neither 
be  malevolent  nor  indifferent  to  the  happiness  of  animals,  but 
must  be  benevolent ;  and,  therefore,  the  system  must  be  the 
best  possible,  since  such  a  Being  could  constitute  no  other. 

Now,  death  being  an  essential  feature  of  such  a  system,  we 
should  expect  to  find  it,  as  a  whole,  a  benevolent  provision. 
But,  in  the  case  of  man,  the  Bible  represents  it  as  a  penal 
8 


86  DEATH   A   UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

infliction,  and  such  is  its  general  aspect  in  the  human  family. 
So  far  as  the  mere  extinction  of  life  is  concerned,  it  is  the 
same  in  man  as  in  other  animals ;  but  sin  arms  it  with  a 
deadly  sting,  by  pointing  the  offender  to  a  world  of  ret- 
ribution, as  he  sees  the  menacing  dart  of  the  great  de- 
stroyer aimed  at  his  heart.  And,  indeed,  through  all  his 
days,  man's  power  of  anticipation  keeps  death  ever  before 
him,  as  the  end  of  all  his  present  enjoyments,  and  the  com- 
mencement, it  may  be,  of  unmitigated  suffering.  But  the 
inferior  animals,  being  incapable  of  sin,  find  none  of  these 
aggravations  to  give  keenness  to  their  final  sufferings.  No 
anticipation  of  death  keeps  it  ever  in  view,  as  a  terrific 
enemy.  No  guilty  conscience  points  them  to  a  righteous 
throne  of  judgment,  where  they  must  be  arraigned.  But 
when  the  stroke  comes,  it  falls  unexpectedly,  and  the  mere 
physical  suffering  is  all  that  gives  severity  to  their  dis- 
solution. 

In  the  case  of  man,  too,  there  is  the  sundering  of  ties  too 
strong  for  any  thing  but  death  to  break  ;  —  ties  which  bind  him 
to  kindred,  friends,  and  country ;  and  often  this  separation 
constitutes  the  most  painful  part  of  the  closing  scene.  But  in 
the  case  of  animals,  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  these 
attachments,  so  far  as  they  exist,  to  be  very  strong ;  nay,  in 
most  cases  they  are  certainly  very  weak.  And  even  did  they 
exist,  the  brute  would  not  be  conscious  that  death  would  re- 
move him  from  the  society  of  his  beloved  companions. 

The  inferior  animals,  also,  usually  die  either  a  violent  and 
sudden  death,  inflicted  by  some  carnivorous  enemy,  or  in  ex- 
treme old  age,  by  mere  decay  of  the  natural  powers,  without 
disease.  The  violent  death  can  usually  have  in  it  little  of 
suffering ;  and  the  slow  decay  still  less.  But  although  some 
men  die  violent  deaths,  how  few  survive  to  extreme  old  age, 


DEATH   OF   THE   CHRISTIAN.  87 

and  sink  at.  last  almost  unconsciously  into  the  grave,  because 
the  vital  energies  are  exhausted  !  Were  this  the  case,  the  phys- 
ical terrors  of  death  would  be  almost  taken  away,  and  we 
should  pass  as  quietly  into  eternity  as  a  lamp  goes  out  when 
the  oil  is  exhausted.  But  in  general  we  see  a  constitution 
yet  unbroken,  struggling  with  fierce  disease,  and  yielding  to 
its  fate  only  with  terrific  agonies ;  because  sin  has  early  im- 
planted the  seeds  of  disease  in  the  constitution. 

Imagine,  now,  that  death  should  come  upon  a  man  in  the 
course  of  nature  ;  that  is,  without  disease,  and  with  little  suf- 
fering, and  with  no  painful  forebodings  of  conscience.  Sup- 
pose, moreover,  that  the  dying  individual  should  feel  that  the 
change  passing  upon  him  would  assuredly  introduce  him  to  a 
new  and  spiritual  body,  undecaying,  and  adapted  to  the  oper- 
ations of  the  mind  ;  that  it  would,  in  fact,  be  the  building  of 
God,  the  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens  ; 
and  that  the  soul,  after  death,  would  enter  into  free  and  full 
communion  with  all  that  is  great  and  ennobling  in  the  uni- 
verse ;  and  that  joys,  inconceivable  and  eternal,  would  hence- 
forth be  its  portion :  O,  how  different  would  such  a  death  be 
from  what  we  usually  witness !  Yet,  were  men  all  to  accept 
of  the  offered  ransom  from  sin  and  death,  and,  under  the 
guidance  of  pure  religious  principle,  were  to  pay  a  strict 
regard  to  hygienic  laws,  such  would  be,  for  the  most  part,  the 
character  of  the  death  they  would  experience.  The  excepted 
cases  would  be  those  of  violent  and  sudden  death  from  acci- 
dent, or  of  disease  from  unavoidable  exposure,  and  they 
would  be  comparatively  ^e\\.  So  that,  in  fact,  an  observance 
of  the  laws,  physical  and  moral,  which  God  has  ordained, 
would  change  almost  the  entire  aspect  of  death,  even  in  this 
fallen  world. 

These  remarks  seem  necessary  in  order  to  obtain  a  correct 


88  DEATH    A    UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

idea  of  the  character  of  death,  when  not  aggravated  by  the 
sms  of  men.  For  those  aggravations  seem  superadded,  in 
the  case  of  men,  as  penal  inflictions  for  their  sins ;  and  we 
ought  to  leave  them  out  of  the  account,  when  we  are  consid- 
ering  death  as  a  benevolent  provision.  I  do  not  contend  that 
death,  even  in  its  mildest  forms,  is  no  evil  ;  nor  that  the 
apostasy  of  man  was  not  the  cause  of  its  introduction  into 
the  world.  These  points  I  shall  consider  in  another  place. 
But  I  contend  that,  in  the  present  system  of  the  world,  death, 
when  not  aggravated  by  the  sins  of  men,  is  to  be  regarded  as 
a  benevolent  provision,  bringing  with  it  more  happiness  than 
misery;  although,  had  sin  never  existed,  a  system  productive 
of  still  greater  enjoyment  might  have  been  adopted  in  this 
world.  But  as  the  arrangements  of  the  world  now  are,  death 
affords  the  following  evidences  of  infinite  benevolence  and 
wisdom. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  a  transfer  from  a  lower  to  a  higher 
state  of  existence. 

Let  me  here  be  understood  distinctly  as  speaking  only  of  the 
death  of  those  accountable  beings,  who,  by  the  transforming 
power  of  grace,  have  become  prepared  for  a  higher  and  per- 
fectly holy  state  of  being.  For  the  death  of  all  others  can  be 
looked  on  only  in  the  light  of  a  terrible  penal  infliction.  But  the 
righteous,  when  they  die,  —  and  all  may,  if  they  will,  become 
righteous,  —  have  before  them  the  certain  prospect  of  immor- 
tal happiness,  such  as  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard, 
7ieither  hath  if  entered  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive.  They 
enter  upon  fulness  of  joy,  and  pleasures  for  evermore ;  and 
therefore  death  to  them  is  infinite  gain. 

Whether  the  inferior  animals  will  exist  again  after  death 
is  a  more  doubtful  point.  There  is  certainly  nothing  in 
Scripture  decisive  against    their    future   existence ;    for   the 


GERMAN    EXPOSITION.  89 

passage  in  Psalms  which  says,  that  man  that  is  in  honor  and 
ahideth  not  is  like  the  brutes  that  perish,  if  understood  to 
mean  the  annihilation  of  animals,  would  prove  also  the  anni- 
hilation of  wicked  men.  And  while  most  men  of  learning 
and  piety  have  suspended  their  opinion  on  the  existence  of 
the  inferior  animals  after  death,  for  want  of  evidence,  some 
have  been  decided  advocates  of  the  future  happy  existence 
of  all  beings,  who  exhibit  a  spark  of  intelligence.  Not  a 
few  distinguished  German  theologians  and  philosophers  regard 
the  whole  visible  creation,  both  animate  and  inanimate,  as  at 
present  in  a  confined  and  depressed  state,  and  struggling  for 
freedom.  On  this  principle  Tholuck  explains  that  most  diffi- 
cult passage  in  Romans,  which  declares  that  the  whole  crea- 
tion groaneth  and  travaileth  together  in  pain  until  now.  He 
supposes  this  "  bound  or  fettered  state  of  nature,"  both  ani- 
mate and  inanimate,  to  have  a  casual  connection  with  sin, 
and  the  death  accompanying  it  among  men  ;  and,  therefore, 
when  men  are  freed  from  sin  and  death,  the  creation  itself, 
also,  shall  be  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  corruption  into 
the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God.  The  kingdom 
of  God,  according  to  Tholuck,  Martin  Luther,  and  many 
other  distinguished  theologians,  will  not  be  transferred  to 
heaven  at  the  end  of  the  world,  but  be  established  on  earth, 
where  all  these  transformations  of  the  animate  and  inanimate 
creation  will  take  place. 

This  exposition  surely  carries  with  it  a  great  deal  of  natu- 
ralness and  probability ;  and  if  it  be  true,  death  to  the  infe- 
rior animals  must  surely  be  an  indication  of  great  benevo- 
lence on  the  part  of  the  Deity,  since  it  introduces  them  to  a 
higher  state  of  existence.  But  if  it  be  rejected,  still  the  gen- 
eral principle  is  eminently  applicable  to  the  case  of  man. 

In  the  second  place,  the  system  of  a  succession  of  races 
8* 


90  DEATH    A   UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

of  animals  on  earth,  which  death  alone  would  render  possible, 
secures  a  much  greater  collective  amount  of  happiness  than 
a  single  race  of  animals,  endowed  with  earthly  immortality. 
I  sustain  this  position  by  three  arguments.  The  first  is,  that 
young  animals  enjoy  more,  in  the  same  period  of  time,  than 
those  more  advanced  in  age.  This  may  result,  in  part,  in  the 
present  organization  of  animals,  from  the  superior  health 
and  vigor  enjoyed  by  the  young.  But  it  is  due,  also,  in  part, 
and  largely,  to  the  novelty  of  the  scenes  presented  in  early 
life.  And  so  far  as  it  results  from  the  latter  cause,  it  proves 
that  a  succession  of  races  would  enjoy  more  than  a  single 
race  continued  indefinitely,  because  the  successive  races 
would  always  be  comparatively  young.  A  single  continuous 
race  might,  indeed,  be  supposed  always  possessed  of  the  un- 
abated vigor  and  health  of  youth  ;  but,  of  necessity,  objects 
must  soon  lose  the  charm  of  novelty,  and,  therefore,  produce 
less  of  enjoyment.  The  second  argument  is,  that  a  succes- 
sion of  races  admits  of  the  contemporaneous  existence  of  a 
greater  number  of  species  than  could  coexist  were  none  re- 
moved by  death.  If  only  one  undying  race  occupied  the  globe, 
it  must  subsist  exclusively  on  vegetable  food.  Whereas  much 
the  largest  part  of  the  species  that  now  live  are  carnivorous 
or  omnivorous.  All  the  enjoyment  of  these  flesh-eating  ani- 
mals is,  therefore,  so  much  clear  gain  to  the  stock  of  happi- 
ness, with  the  exception  of  the  suffering  which  death  inflicts. 
Now,  but  few  of  the  inferior  animals  perish  by  disease. 
Some  die  by  old  age,  and  these  suffer  almost  nothing.  But 
the  greater  part  are  suddenly  destroyed  by  the  violent  assault 
of  the  carnivorous  races.  And  as  the  pangs  of  death  arc 
momentary,  and  there  are  no  anticipations  of  its  approach, 
nor  sunderings  of  the  ties  of  affection,  nor  dread  of  an  here- 
after, the  sufl?ering  endured    must  be  an  exceedingly  small 


CONCLUSIONS.  91 

drawback  upon  the  enjoyment  of  the  whole  life.  It  is  far  less 
than  it  svould  be,  if  animals  were  left  to  perish  by  Axmine,  or 
by  slow  degrees,  from  deficient  nourishment ;  so  that  the  exist- 
ence of  the  carnivorous  races,  seeming  at  first  view  intended 
to  convert  the  world  into  a  vast  Golgotha,  does  in  fact  add 
greatly  to  the  amount  of  enjoyment,  because  it  so  prodigiously 
multiplies  the  number  of  species  of  animals,  and  lessens  the 
sufferings  of  death.  In  the  third  place,  death  exerts  a  salutary 
moral  influence  upon  man,  and,  as  a  consequence,  swells  the 
amount  of  his  happiness.  And  although  this  consideration 
affects  only  one  species,  yet  man's  position  on  the  scale  of 
being  makes  his  happiness  an  object  of  no  small  importance. 

The  final  conclusions  at  which  we  arrive,  then,  are,  first, 
that  death  is  a  fixed  and  universal  law  of  nature,  essential  to 
the  existence  of  the  present  system  of  the  world  ;  and  sec- 
ondly, that,  like  all  other  laws  of  nature,  it  exhibits  marks  of 
benevolence,  and  wise  adaptation  on  the  part  of  the  Author 
of  nature.  The  question  will  indeed  arise  in  every  reflecting 
mind,  why  a  Being  of  infinite  power  and  wisdom  could  not 
have  secured  to  his  creatures  the  benefits  resulting  from  a 
system  of  death,  without  the  attendant  suffering.  But  this 
question  resolves  itself  into  the  inquiry,  why  evil  exists  at  all ; 
and  although,  in  my  own  view,  it  exists  most  probably  as  a 
means  of  greater  happiness  to  the  universe,  yet  on  this  point 
the  wisest  minds  have  differed  and  been  baffled,  and  equally 
perplexing  is  it  to  every  form  of  religion.  Hence  it  is  no 
objection  to  any  views  we  may  adopt,  that  they  leave  this 
question  where  they  found  it. 

The  fifth  and  last  step  in  our  investigation  of  this  subject 
is  to  show  hoio  science^  exj^erience,  arid  revelation  may  he 
reconciled  on  the  subject  of  death. 

We  have  seen  that  geology  is  not  alone  in  proving  death 


92  DEATH   A    UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

to  be  a  law  of  nature,  essential  to  the  present  system  of  the 
world,  and,  indeed,  indicative  of  divine  wisdom  and  benevo- 
lence. For  anatomy  and  physiology,  as  well  as  experience, 
teach  us  the  same  truths.  And  natural  theology  shows  that, 
if  death  is  a  law  of  organic  nature,  it  must  have  entered  into 
the  plan  of  the  universe  in  the  divine  mind,  and  was  not  the 
result  of  any  change  of  organic  nature  subsequent  to  the  fall 
of  man.  Can  these  views  be  reconciled  with  the  declarations 
of  Scripture,  which  certainly  represent  death  among  the 
human  family,  if  not  among  the  lower  animals,  to  be  the 
consequence  of  sin  ?     ■ 

There  are  three  suppositions  by  which  all  apparent  discre- 
pancy between  science  and  revelation,  on  this  subject,  may  be 
removed.  I  shall  present  them,  with  the  arguments  in  their 
favor,  leaving  to  others  to  decide  which  is  most  reasonable. 
For  they  are  independent  of  one  another,  though  not  incon- 
sistent;  and,  therefore,  even  though  different  persons  should 
prefer  different  theories,  they  need  not  be  regarded  as  in  op- 
position to  one  another. 

The  first  theory  proceeds  on  the  supposition  that  death  is 
a  universal  law  of  organic  nature,  from  which  man  was  ex- 
empted so  long  as  he  obeyed  the  law  of  God.  But  I  will 
present  it  in  the  language  of  its  distinguished  author.  "  In 
the  state  of  pristine  purity,"  says  Dr.  J.  Pye  Smith,  "  the 
bodily  constitution  of  man  was  exempted  from  the  law  of 
progress  towards  dissolution,  which  belonged  to  the  inferior 
animals.  It  must  have  been  maintained  in  that  distinguished 
peculiarity  by  means  to  us  unknown ;  and  it  would  seem 
probable  that,  had  not  man  fallen  by  his  transgression,  he, 
and  each  of  his  posterity,  would,  after  faithfully  sustaining 
an  individual  probation,  have  passed  through  a  change  with- 
out dying,  and  have  been  exalted  to  a  more  perfect  state  of 
existence."  —  Scrip,  and  Geol.  4th  ed.  p.  208. 


DEATH    MIGHT    HAVE    BEEN    PREVENTED.  93 

According  to  this  theory  of  Dr.  Smith,  man  saw  all  other 
organic  beings  around  him  subject  to  decay  and  death,  while 
he,  as  a  special  favor,  remained  unaffected  by  the  general 
law.  The  penalty  of  disobedience  was,  that  he  would  for- 
feit this  enviable  distinction,  and  be  subjected  to  death  more 
revolting  than  the  brutes.  The  reward  of  obedience  was  a 
continued  immunity  from  evil,  and  a  final  translation,  without 
suffering,  to  a  more  exalted  condition.  And  certainly  the 
nature  of  the  case  furnishes  a  strong  presumptive  argument 
to  show  that  man  did  thus  stand  exempted  from  the  decay 
and  death  which  reigned  all  around  him.  If  not,  what 
weight  or  meaning  would  there  be  in  the  penalty  ?  If 
he  had  not  seen  death  in  other  animals,  how  could  he  have 
any  idea  of  the  nature  of  the  threatening  ?  And  we  may  be 
sure  that  God  never  promulgates  a  penalty  without  affording 
his  subjects  the  means  of  comprehending  it. 

I  have  already  intimated  that  I  could  hardly  see  why  there 
exists  in  all  organic  natures  a  tendency  to  decay  and  death, 
except  in  the  will  of  the  Creator.  May  not  that  tendency 
result,  like  the  varieties  among  men,  from  some  slightly  mod- 
ifying cause  implanted  by  the  Deity  in  the  nature  of  the  ani- 
mal or  plant  ?  And  if  so,  might  not  an  opposite  tendency 
be  imparted  to  one  or  more  species,  so  that  the  decay  and 
death  of  the  one,  and  the  continued  existence  of  the  other, 
might  be  equally  well  explained  on  physiological  principles  ? 
If  this  suggestion  be  admitted,  it  would  not  be  necessary  to 
resort  to  any  supernatural  or  miraculous  agency  to  show  how 
sinless  man  in  paradise  might  have  stood  unaffected  by  decay, 
the  common  lot  of  all  other  races.  It  must  be  confessed, 
however,  that  it  is  not  as  easy  to  see  how,  by  any  natural 
law,  he  could  have  been  proof  against  mechanical  violence 
and   chemical   agencies;    there   we   must  admit  miraculous 


94  DEATH   A    UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

protection,  or  a  self-restoring  power  more  wonderful  than  that 
possessed  by  the  polypi. 

These  views  receive  strong  confirmation  from  the  history 
of  the  tree  of  life,  that  grew  in  the  garden  of  Eden.  The 
very  name  implies  that  it  was  intended  to  give  or  preserve 
life.  That  it  had  in  it  a  power  to  preserve  life  is  evident 
from  the  sentence  pronounced  on  man.  And  the  Lord  God 
saith,  Behold,  the  man  hath  become  as  one  of  us,  to  know  good 
and  evil ;  and  iioiv,  lest  he  should  put  forth  his  hand,  and 
take  also  of  the  tree  of  life,  and  live  forever,  therefore  the 
Lord  God  sent  him  forth  from  the  garden  of  Eden.  Now, 
it  appears  to  me  to  be  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  principles 
of  physiology  to  suppose  that  there  might  be  a  virtue  in  the 
tree  of  life  —  either  in  its  fruit  or  some  other  part —  to  arrest 
that  tendency  to  decay  and  dissolution  which  we  now  find  in 
all  animal  bodies.  It  does  seem  that  it  would  require  only 
some  slight  modification  of  the  present  functions  of  the  hu- 
man frame  to  keep  the  wheels  of  life  in  motion  indefinitely. 
When  in  Eden,  man  had  access  to  this  sure  defence  against 
disease.  But  after  he  had  sinned,  he  must  forfeit  this  privi- 
lege, and,  like  the  plants  and  inferior  animals,  submit  to  the 
universal  law  of  dissolution.  Surely,  of  all  the  expositions 
that  have  been  given  of  the  meaning  of  this  passage,  this  is 
the  most  rational,  and  it  does  throw  an  air  of  great  plausibil- 
ity over  Dr.  Smith's  views. 

It  will  occur  to  every  reflecting  mind  that  we  have  in  Scrip- 
ture a  few  interesting  examples  of  that  change,  without 
dying,  from  the  present  to  a  higher  state  of  being,  which  the 
theory  of  Dr.  Smith  supposes  would  have  been  the  happy  lot 
of  all  mankind  had  they  not  sinned.  By  faith  Enoch  was 
translated,  that  he  should  not  see  death.  He  walked  with  God, 
and  he  was  not ;  for  God  took  him.     Gladly  would  philoso- 


TRANSLATION.  95 

phys  here  interpose  a  thousand  questions  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  this  wonderful  change  took  place  ;  but  the  Scriptures 
are  silent.  It  was  enough  for  the  heart  of  piety  that  God  was 
the  author  of  the  change.  And  so,  in  the  case  of  Elijah,  we 
have  the  sublimely  simple  description  only  —  And  it  came  to 
pass^  as  they  still  went  on  and  talked,  that,  hehold,  there  ap- 
peared a  chariot  of  fire,  and  horses  of  fire,  and  parted  them 
both  asunder;  and  Elijah  went  up  by  a  whirlwind  into 
heaven.  Except  the  transfiguration  of  Christ,  which  appears 
to  have  been  of  an  analogous  character,  these  are  all  the 
actual  examples  of  translation  on  record.  But  the  apostle 
declares  that,  in  the  closing  scene  of  this  world's  history,  this 
same  change  shall  pass  upon  multitudes.  Behold,  I  show 
you  a  mystery.  We  shall  not  all  sleep ;  but  we  shall  all  he 
changed,  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at  the  last 
trump  ;  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and  the  dead  shall  he 
raised  incorruptible,  and  we  shall  he  changed.  Abundant 
evidence  is,  therefore,  before  us,  that  the  great  change  which 
death  now  causes  us  to  pass  through  with  fear  and  dread, 
might  as  easily  have  been,  for  the  whole  human  family,  a 
transition  delightful  in  anticipation  and  joyful  in  experience. 

The  second  theory  which  will  reconcile  science  and  revela- 
tion on  the  subject  of  death,  is  one  long  since  illustrated  by 
Jeremy  Taylor.  And  since  he  could  have  had  no  reference 
to  geology  in  proposing  it,  because  geology  did  not  exist  in 
his  day,  we  may  be  sure,  either  that  he  learnt  it  from  the 
Bible,  or  that  other  branches  of  knowledge  teach  the  exist- 
ence of  death  as  a  general  law  of  nature,  as  well  as  geology. 

''  That  death,  therefore,"  says  Taylor,  "  which  God  threat- 
ened to  Adam,  and  which  passed  upon  his  posterity,  is  not 
the  going  out  of  this  world,  but  the  manner  of  going.  If  he 
had   staid  in  innocence,  he  should  have  gone  placidly  and 


96  DEATH    A   UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

fairly,  without  vexatious  and  afflictive  circumstances ;  he 
should  not  have  died  by  sickness,  defect,  misfortune,  or  un- 
willingness. But  when  he  fell,  then  he  began  to  die  ;  the  same 
day,  (God  said,)  and  that  must  needs  be  true  ;  and,  there- 
fore, it  must  mean  upon  that  very  day  he  fell  into  an  evil 
and  dangerous  condition,  a  state  of  change  and  affliction  ; 
then  death  began ;  that  is,  man  began  to  die  by  a  natural 
diminution,  and  aptness  to  disease  and  misery.  Change 
or  separation  of  soul  and  body  is  but  accidental  to  death  ; 
death  may  be  with  or  without  either;  but  the  formality,  the 
curse,  and  the  sting,  —  that  is,  misery,  sorrow,  fear,  diminution, 
defect,  anguish,  dishonor,  and  whatsoever  is  miserable  and 
afflictive  in  nature,  —  that  is  death.  Death  is  not  an  action,  but 
a  whole  state  and  condition  ;  and  this  was  first  brought  in 
upon  us  by  the  offence  of  one  man." 

In  more  recent  times,  the  essential  features  of  these  views 
of  Taylor  have  been  adopted  by  the  ablest  commentators  and 
theologians,  and  sustained  by  an  appeal  to  Scripture.*  The 
position  which  they  take  is,  that  the  death  threatened  as  the 
penalty  of  disobedience  has  a  more  extended  meaning  than 
physical  death.  It  is  a  generic  term,  including  all  penal 
evils;  so  that  when  death  is  spoken  of  as  the  penalty  of  sin, 
we  may  substitute  the  word  curse^  tvrath,  destruction,  and  the 
like.  Thus,  in  Gen.  ii.  17,  we  might  read.  In  the  day  thou 
eatest  thereof,  thou  shalt  surely  he  cursed  ;  and  in  Rom.  v. 
12,  By  one  man  sin  entered  into  the  icorld,  and  the  curse  by 
sin,  &c.  In  his  commentary  on  this  passage.  Professor  Stu- 
art says,  "  I  see  no  philological  escape  from  the  conclusion 
that  death,  in  the  sense  of  penalty  for  siri  in  its  full  measure. 


*  See  Stuart  and  Hodge  on  Rom.  v.  12  ;    also  Chalmers's  Lec- 
tures on  Romans,  Lecture  26  ;  and  Harris's  Man  Primeval,  p.  178. 


DEATH   A   GENERIC    TERM.  9^ 

must  be  regarded  as  the  meaning  of  the  writer  here."  The 
same  may  be  said  of  many  other  passages  of  Scripture, 
where  the  term  death  is  used. 

According  to  this  exposition,  the  death  threatened  as  the 
penalty  of  transgression  embraces  all  the  evils  we  suffer  in 
this  life  and  in  eternity  ;  among  which  the  dissolution  of  the 
body  is  not  one  of  the  worst.  Indeed,  some  writers  will  not 
admit  that  this  was  included  at  all  in  the  penalty.  Such,  of 
course,  find  no  difficulty  in  the  geological  statement  that 
literal  death  preceded  man's  existence.  But  from  the  decla- 
ration in  1  Cor.  xv.  22,  ^5  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in  Christ 
shall  all  be  made  alive,  it  seems  difficult  to  avoid  the  conclu- 
sion, that  the  death  of  the  body  was  brought  in  upon  the  race 
by  Adam's  transgression.  According  to  Taylor's  view,  how- 
ever, we  might  reasonably  suppose  that  what  constituted  the 
death  threatened  to  Adam  was  not  the  going  out  of  the  worlds 
but  the  manner  of  going,  and  that,  had  he  continued  holy,  a 
change  of  worlds  might  have  taken  place,  but  it  would  not. 
have  been  death. 

Now,  there  are  some  facts,  both  in  experience  and  revela- 
tion, that  give  to  these  views  an  air  of  probability.  One  is, 
the  mild  character  of  death  in  many  cases,  when  attended  by 
only  a  few  of  the  circumstances  above  enumerated,  as  con- 
stituting its  essence.  I  believe  that  experience  sustains  the 
conclusion  already  drawn  as  to  the  inferior  animals,  when  not 
aggravated  by  human  cruelty.  Pain  is  about  the  only  cir- 
cumstance that  gives  it  the  character  of  severity  ;  and  this  is 
usually  short,  and  not  anticipated.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted,  as 
a  general  fact,  that,  as  we  descend  along  the  scale  of  animals, 
we  find  the  sensibility  to  suffering  diminish.  But  in  the  hu- 
man family  we  find  examples  still  more  to  the  point.  In  all 
those  cases  in  which  there  is  little  or  no  disease,  and  a  man 
9 


98  DEATH   A    UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

in  venerable  old  age  feels  the  powers  of  life  gradually  give 
way,  and  the  functions  are  feebly  performed,  until  the  heart 
at  length  ceases  to  beat,  and  the  lungs  to  heave,  death  is 
merely  the  quiet  and  unconscious  termination  of  the  scene, 
so  far  as  the  physical  nature  is  concerned.  The  brain  par- 
takes of  the  gradual  decay,  and  thus  the  man  is  scarcely  con- 
scious of  the  failure  of  his  powers,  because  his  sensibilities 
are  so  blunted ;  and  therefore,  apart  from  sin,  his  mind  feels 
little  of  the  anguish  of  dissolution,  and  he  quietly  resigns  him- 
self into  the  arms  of  death,  — 

♦«  As  sweetly  as  a  child, 
Whom  neither  though.t  disturbs,  nor  care  encumbers. 
Tired  with  long  play,  at  close  of  summer's  day. 
Lies  down  and  slumbers." 

If  now,  in  addition  to  this  physical  preparation  for  his  de- 
parture, the  man  possesses  a  deep  consciousness  of  forgiven 
sin,  and  a  firm  hope  of  future  and  eternal  joy,  this  change, 
which  we  call  death,  becomes  only  a  joyful  translation  from 
earth  to  heaven  ;  and  though  the  man  passes  from  our  view, — 

"  He  sets. 
As  sets  the  morning  star,  which  goes  not  down 
Behind  the  darkened  west,  nor  hides  obscured 
Among  the  tempests  of  the  sky,  but  melts  away 
Into  the  light  of  heaven." 

Nay,  when  such  faith  and  hope  form  an  anchor  to  the  soul, 
it  is  not  necessary  that  the  physical  preparation,  which  I  have 
described,  should  exist.  The  poor  body  may  be  torn  by  fierce 
disease,  nay,  by  the  infernal  cruelties  of  martyrdom,  and  yet 
faith  can  rise  —  often  has  risen  —  over  the  pains  of  nature, 
in  joyful  triumph  ;  and  in  the  midst  of  the  tempest,  with  her 


DEATH    OF    THE    WICKED.  99 

anchor  fastened  to  the  eternal  Rock,  she  can  exclaim,  O  death, 
where  is  thy  sting  !  O  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  !  Thanks 
he  to  God,  which  giveth  me  tJie  victory  through  my  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Surely  such  a  dissolution  as  this  cannot  mean  the 
death  mentioned  in  the  primeval  curse. 

Look  now  at  the  contrast.  Behold  a  man  writhing  in  the 
fangs  of  unrelenting  disease,  and  feeling  at  the  same  time  the 
scorpion  sting  of  a  guilty  conscience.  His  present  suffering 
is  terrible,  but  that  in  prospect  is  more  so  ;  yet  he  cannot 
bribe  the  king  of  terrors  to  delay  the  fatal  stroke. 

"  The  foe, 
Like  a  standi  murderer,  steady  to  his  purpose. 
Urges  the  soul  through  every  nook  and  lane  of  life." 

It  were  enough  for  an  unruffled  mind  to  bear  the  bodily 
anguish  of  that  dying  hour.  But  the  unpardoned  sins  of  a 
whole  life,  and  the  awful  retributions  of  a  whole  eternity,  come 
crowding  into  that  point  of  time  ;  and  no  human  fortitude  can 
stand  under  the  crushing  load.  This,  this  is  emphatically 
death  ;  the  genuine  fruit  of  sin,  and  therefore  in  correspond- 
ence with  the  original  threatening. 

If  we  turn  now  to  the  Scriptures,  we  shall  find  some  pas- 
sages in  striking  agreement  with  the  opinion  that  the  death 
threatened  to  man  was  not  the  mere  dissolution  of  the  body 
and  soul ;  not  a  mere  going  out  of  the  world,  but  the  manner 
of  going. 

This  is,  indeed,  made  exceedingly  probable  by  the  facts 
already  stated  respecting  the  translation  of  Enoch  and  Elijah, 
and  those  alive  at  the  coming  of  Christ.  For  the  sacred  writers 
do  not  call  this  death,  although  it  be  a  removal  out  of  the  world, 
and  a  transformation  of  the  natural  into  the  spiritual  body. 
Hence,  upon  the  material  part  of  men,  the  same  effects  were 


l^  DEATH   A    UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

produced  as  result  from  ordinary  death,  and  the  subsequent 
resurrection. 

If  we  recur  to  the  original  threatening  of  death  as  the  con- 
sequence of  sin,  we  shall  find  a  peculiarity  in  the  form  of 
expression,  which  our  English  translators  have  rendered  by 
the  phrase  than  shall  surely  die ;  but  literally  it  should  be, 
dying  thou  shall  die. 

This  mode  of  expression  is  indeed  very  common  in  the 
Hebrew  language  ;  but  it  certainly  was  meant  to  indicate  an 
intensity  in  the  meaning,  as  in  the  phrase  blessing  I  will 
bless  thee,  and  multiplying  I  will  multiply  thee  ;  that  is,  I 
will  greatly  multiply  thee.  Must  it  not  imply,  in  the  case 
under  consideration,  at  least  that  the  death  which  would  be 
the  consequence  of  transgression,  would  possess  an  aggra- 
vated character  ?  May  it  not  imply  as  much  as  Taylor^s  the- 
ory supposes  ?  Might  it  nat  be  intended  to  teach  Adam  that, 
when  he  died,  his  death  should  not  be  simply  the  dissolution 
of  the  animal  fabric,  and  the  loss  of  animal  life,  as  he  wit- 
nessed it  in  the  inferior  creatures  around  him ;  but  a  change 
far  more  agonizing,  in  which  the  mental  suffering  should  so 
much  outweigh  the  corporeal  as  to  constitute,  in  fact,  its  es- 
sence ?  I  do  not  assert  that  this  passage  has  such  an  extended 
meaning,  but  I  suggest  it.  And  I  confess  that  I  do  not  see 
why  its  peculiarity  of  form  is  understood  in  our  common  trans- 
lation to  imply  certainty  rather  than  intensity. 

There  is  another  part  of  the  threatening  that  deserves  con- 
sideration. It  says,  that  man  should  not  only  die,  but  die  the 
very  day  of  the  offence.  Now,  if  by  death  we  understood 
merely  a  removal  out  of  the  world,  or  a  separation  of  soul  and 
body,  the  threatening  was  not  executed  after  the  forbidden 
fruit  was  tasted.  But  if  it  meant  also,  and  chiefly,  a  state  of 
sorrow,  pain,  and  suffering,  a  liability  to  disease  and  fatal 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  DEATH.  101 

accident,  the  goadings  of  a  guilty  conscience,  and  the  conse- 
quent fear  of  punishment  beyond  the  grave,  then  death  began 
on  the  very  day  when  man  sinned,  and  the  dissolution  of  the 
soul  and  body  was  but  the  closing  scene  of  the  tragedy. 

The  beautiful  passage  in  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 
already  quoted,  where  the  Christian,  in  view  of  death,  exult- 
ingly  exclaims,  O  death,  where  is  thy  sting  !  O  grave,  where 
is  thy  victory  !  will  doubtless  occur  to  all  who  hear  me,  in  this 
connection.  Here  the  sting  of  death  is  expressly  declared  to 
be  sin,  and  that  the  pardoned  Christian  obtains  the  victory  over 
it.  To  him  all  that  renders  this  king  of  terrors  formidable  is 
gone.  Its  physical  suiFerings  may  indeed  be  left,  but  these 
are  hardly  worth  naming,  when  that  which  constitutes  the 
sting  of  this  great  enemy  — unpardoned  guilt  —  is  taken  away. 
Little  more  than  his  harmless  shadow  is  left.  Worlds,  indeed, 
are  to  be  exchanged,  and  so  they  must  have  been  if  Adam 
had  never  been  driven  from  paradise.  The  eyes,  too,  must 
close  on  beloved  friends  ;  but  how  soon  to  open  them  upon 
the  bright  glories  of  heaven  !  In  short,  the  strong  impression 
of  this  passage  upon  the  mind  is,  that  the  essential  thing  in 
death  is  unpardoned  sin ;  and  therefore  the  death  threatened 
to  Adam  may  have  been  only  the  terrible  aggravations  of  a 
departure  out  of  this  world,  which  have  followed  in  the  train 
of  transgression. 

Another  striking  passage,  bearing  upon  the  same  point,  is 
the  declaration  of  Paul,  that  Jesus  Christ  hath  abolished  death, 
and  hr ought  life  and  immortality  to  light  through  the  gospel. 

The  apostle  does  not  surely  mean  that  Christians  are  freed 
from  what  is  commonly  called  death,  since  universal  experi- 
ence shows  that  animal  life  in  them  is  as  sure  to  be  extin- 
guished, and  the  soul  to  be  separated  from  the  body,  as  in 

others.     But  so  different  is  death  now,  since  Christ  has  brought 
9» 


102  DEATH   A   UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

to  light  a  future  and  an  immortal  life,  and  by  the  sacrifice  of 
himself  shown  how  the  heart  may  be  reconciled  to  God,  and 
sin  forgiven,  and  faith  inspired,  that,  in  fact,  while  the  shadow 
of  death  still  occupies  the  passage  to  eternity,  its  substance 
is  gone. 

That  death,  which  sin  introduced,  Christ  has  abolished,  be- 
cause,  by  his  sacrifice  and  his  grace,  he  has  conquered  sin. 

Upon  the  whole,  though  we  may  not  be  convinced  that 
either  of  the  theories  that  have  been  explained  is  directly 
taught  in  the  Scriptures,  or  can  be  shown  to  be  infallibly  true, 
yet  they  are  sustained  by  probable  evidence  enough  to  remove 
the  apprehension  that  there  is  any  real  discrepancy  between 
geology  and  revelation  on  the  subject  of  death.  Between 
these  theories  there  is  but  a  slight  difference.  They  are  in 
fact  but  modifications  of  the  same  general  principles ;  and  I 
say  it  would  be  more  philosophical  to  admit  the  truth  of  either 
of  them,  than  a  disagreement  between  science  and  Scripture, 
since  the  truth  of  both  geology  and  revelation  is  sustained  by 
such  a  mass  of  independent  evidence. 

An  objection,  however,  may  be  stated  against  both  of  these 
theories,  on  the  ground  that  they  seem  to  imply  that  death 
would  have  existed  in  the  world,  irrespective  of  the  sin  of 
man,  and  therefore  they  lessen  our  sense  of  the  evil  of  sin. 

It  may  be  doubted,  I  think,  whether  these  theories  do  neces- 
sarily imply  that  there  was  no  connection  between  the  sin  of 
man  and  the  introduction  of  death  into  the  world.  But,  ad- 
mitting that  they  do,  is  it  certain  that  inadequate  views  of  sin 
are  the  result?  For  poetic  effect,  we  admire  the  sublime 
sentimentalism  of  Milton  :  — 

"  Earth  felt  the  wound  ;  and  Nature,  from  her  seat, 
Sighing  through  all  her  works,  gave  signs  of  woe 
That  all  was  lost." 


EFFECTS    OF    SIN.  103 

But,  after  all,  the  deepest  impression  we  get  of  the  evil  of 
sin  is  derived  from  contemplating  its  effects  upon  man,  a;  d 
especially  the  immortal  mind.  Witness  its  lofty  powers 
bowed  down  in  ignominious  servitude  to  base  corporeal  appe- 
tites and  furious  and  debasing  passions.  See  how  the  under- 
standing is  darkened,  the  will  perverted,  and  the  heart  alienated 
from  all  that  is  holy.  See  reason  and  conscience  dethroned, 
and  selfishness  reigning  in  gloomy  and  undisputed  tyranny 
over  the  immortal  mind,  while  appetite  and  passion  have  be- 
come its  obsequious  panders.  See  how  the  affections  turn 
away  with  loathing  from  God,  and  what  a  wall  of  separation 
has  sprung  up  between  man  and  his  Maker ;  how  deeply  and 
universally  he  has  revolted  from  his  rightful  sovereign,  and 
has  chosen  other  gods  to  rule  over  him.  Consider,  too,  what 
havoc  has  been  made  in  the  body,  that  curious  and  wonderful 
workmanship  of  the  Almighty ;  how  the  unbridled  appetites 
have  sown  the  seeds  of  disease  therein,  and  how  pain,  languor, 
and  decay  assail  the  constitution  as  soon  as  we  begin  to  live, 
and  cease  not  their  attacks  till  they  triumph  over  the  citadel 
of  life.  Consult  the  history  of  the  world,  and  what  a  lazar- 
house  and  a  Golgotha  has  it  been  !  What  land  has  not  been 
drenched  in  human  blood,  poured  out  in  ferocious  war!  What 
oceans  of  tears  has  the  thirsty  soil  drank  up  !  What  breeze 
has  ever  blown  over  the  land  which  has  not  been  loaded  with 
sighs,  and  groans,  and  the  story  of  wrong  and  oppression,  of 
treachery  and  murder,  of  suicide  and  assassination,  of  blasted 
hopes  and  despairing  hearts !  These,  therefore,  are  the  gen- 
uine fruits  of  sin.  This,  this  is  death.  And,  need  I  add 
that  these  are  but  the  precursors  of  the  second  death.? 

The  third  theory  respecting  death  takes  a  more  compre- 
hensive view  of  the  subject,  and  traces  its  origin  to  the  divine 
plan  of  the  creation. 


104  DEATH    A    UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

In  creating  this  world,  God  did  not  act  without  a  plan  pre- 
viously determined  upon  in  all  its  details.  Of  course,  man's 
character  and  condition  formed  prominent  items  in  that  plan. 
His  apostasy,  too,  however  some  would  hesitate  to  regard  it 
as  predetermined,  all  will  allow  to  have  been  foreknown. 
Now,  I  maintain  that  God,  in  the  beginning,  adapted  every 
other  being  and  event  in  the  world  to  man's  character  and 
condition,  so  that  there  should  be  entire  harmony  in  its  sys- 
tem. And  since,  either  in  the  divine  appointment,  or  in 
the  nature  of  things,  there  is  an  inseparable  connection  be- 
tween sin  and  death,  the  latter  must  constitute  a  feature  of 
the  system  of  the  world,  because  a  free  agent  would  intro- 
duce the  former.  Death  would  ultimately  exist  in  the  world, 
and,  therefore,  all  creatures  placed  in  such  a  world  must  be 
made  mortal,  at  whatever  period  created.  For  mortal  and 
immortal  natures  could  not  exist  in  the  same  natural  consti- 
tution, nor  could  a  condition  adapted  to  undying  creatures  be 
changed  into  a  state  of  decay  and  death  without  an  entirely 
new  creation.  Death,  therefore,  entered  into  the  original 
plan  of  the  world  in  the  divine  mind,  and  was  endured  by 
the  animals  and  plants  that  lived  anterior  to  man.  Yet,  as 
the  constitution  of  the  world  is,  doubtless,  very  different  from 
what  it  would  have  been  if  sin  had  not  existed  in  it,  and  as 
man  alone  was  capable  of  sin,  it  is  proper  to  regard  man's 
transgression  as  the  occasion  of  all  the  suffering  and  death 
that  existed  on  the  globe  since  its  creation. 

It  will  probably  be  objected  to  this  theory,  that  it  is  unjust 
to  make  animals  suffer  for  man's  apostasy,  especially  before 
it  took  place. 

I  do  not  see  why  such  suffering  is  any  more  unjust  before 
than  after  man's  transgression  ;  and  we  know  that  they  do 
now  suffer  in  consequence  of  his  sin.     But  this  suffering  is 


DEATH    OF    ANIMALS.  105 

not  to  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  punishment ;  and  if  it  can 
only  be  proved  that  benevolence  predominates  in  the  condi- 
tion of  animals,  notwithstanding  their  sufferings,  divine  justice 
and  benevolence  are  vindicated  ;  and  can  there  be  any  doubt 
that  such  is  the  fact  ?  Death  is  not  necessarily  an  evil  to  any 
animals.  It  may  be  a  great  blessing,  by  removing  them  to 
a  higher  state  of  existence.  In  the  case  of  the  inferior  ani- 
mals, it  is  but  a  small  drawback  upon  the  pleasure  of  life, 
even  though  they  do  not  exist  hereafter.  We  have  endeav- 
ored to  show  that  even  the  existence  of  carnivorous  races  is  a 
benevolent  provision.  That  animals  are  placed  in  an  inferior 
condition,  in  consequence  of  man's  apostasy,  is  no  more  cause 
of  complaint  than  that  man  is  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels. 

Another  objection  to  these  views  is,  that  it  makes  the  effect 
precede  the  cause  ;  for  it  represents  the  pre-Adamic  animals 
as  dying  in  consequence  of  man's  transgression. 

I  do  not  maintain  that  the  death  of  animals,  before  or  after 
Adam,  was  the  direct  and  natural  consequence  of  his  trans- 
gression. Nay,  I  am  endeavoring  to  show  directly  the  con- 
trary. But,  then,  the  certainty  of  man's  apostasy  might  have 
been  the  grand  reason  in  the  divine  mind  for  giving  to  the 
world  its  present  constitution,  and  subjecting  animals  to  death. 
Not  that  God  altered  his  plan  upon  a  prospective  knowledge 
that  man  would  sin  ;  but  he  made  this  plan  originally,  that  is, 
from  eternity,  with  that  event  in  view,  and  he  made  it  differ- 
ent from  what  it  would  have  been,  if  such  an  event  had  not 
been  certain.  If  this  be  true,  then  was  there  a  connection 
between  man's  sin  and  the  death  that  reigned  before  his  exist- 
ence ;  though,  in  strict  accuracy  of  speech,  one  can  hardly 
be  called  the  cause  of  the  other.  And  yet  it  was,  as  I  main- 
tain, occasioned  by  man's  sin,  and  shows  the  wide-spread 
influence  of  that  occurrence,  even  more  strikingly  than  the 
ordinary  theory  of  death. 


106  DEATH    A    UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

A  third  objection  to  this  theory  is,  that  it  represents  God  as 
putting  man  in  a  place  of  punishment  before  he  had  sinned ; 
or,  at  least,  in  a  state  where  death  was  the  universal  law,  and 
■where  he  must  die,  though  he  should  keep  the  law  of  God. 

There  are  three  suppositions,  either  of  which  will  meet 
this  difficulty. 

We  may  suppose,  with  Jeremy  Taylor,  that  the  death 
threatened  to  Adam  consisted,  not  in  going  out  of  the  world, 
but  in  the  manner  of  going.  If  he  had  not  sinned,  the  ex- 
change of  worlds  would  have  been  without  fear  or  suffering, 
and  an  object  of  desire  rather  than  aversion.  Christ  has  not 
secured  to  the  believer  the  privilege  of  an  earthly  immortal- 
ity, but  has  taken  away  from  a  removal  out  of  the  world  all 
that  constitutes  death. 

Or  we  may  suppose,  with  Dr.  J.  Pye  Smith,  that,  while 
man  should  continue  to  keep  the  divine  law,  he  would  be 
secured  from  that  tendency  to  decay  and  dissolution,  which 
was  the  common  lot  of  all  other  creatures,  until  the  time 
should  come  for  his  removal,  without  suffering  or  dread,  to  a 
higher  state  of  existence.  And  that  a  means  of  immunity 
from  death  existed  in  the  garden  of  Eden  we  learn  from  the 
Scriptures.  For  there  stood  the  tree  of  life,  whose  fruit  had 
the  power  to  make  man  live  forever,  and,  therefore,  he  must 
be  banished  from  the  spot  where  it  grew. 

Or,  finally,  we  may  suppose  that  God  fitted  up  for  man 
some  balmy  spot,  where  neither  decay  nor  death  could  enter, 
and  where  every  thing  was  adapted  for  a  being  of  perfect 
holiness  and  happiness.  His  privilege  was  to  dwell  there,  so 
long  as  he  could  preserve  his  innocence,  but  no  longer.  And 
surely  this  supposition  seems  to  accord  with  the  description 
of  the  garden  of  Eden,  man's  first  dwelling-place.  There 
every  thing  seems  to  have  been  adapted  to  his  happiness ; 
but  sin  drove   him  out  among  the  thorns  and  thistles,  and  a 


ADVANTAGES  OF  THIS  THEORY.  107 

cherubim  and  a  flaming  sword  forbade  his  return  to  the  tree 
of  life. 

Either  of  these  suppositions  will  meet  the  difficulty  suggest- 
ed by  the  objection ;  or  they  may  all  be  combined  consist- 
ently. Let  us  now  look  at  some  of  the  advantages  of  the 
third  theory  above  advanced. 

In  the  first  place,  it  satisfactorily  harmonizes  revelation  with 
geology,  physiology,  and  experience,  on  the  subject  of  death. 
It  agrees  with  physiology  and  experience  in  representing 
death  to  be  a  law  of  organic  being  on  the  globe.  Yet  it  accords 
with  revelation,  in  showing  how  this  law  may  be  a  result  of 
man's  apostasy ;  and  with  geology,  also,  in  showing  how 
death  might  have  reigned  over  animals  and  plants  before 
man's  existence.  To  remove  so  many  apparent  discrepancies 
is  surely  a  presumption  in  favor  of  any  theory. 

In  the  second  place,  the  fundamental  principle  of  this  the- 
ory is  also  a  fundamental  principle  of  natural  and  revealed 
theology,  viz.,  that  all  events  in  this  world  entered  originally 
into  the  plan  or  purpose  of  the  Deity.  To  suppose  that  God 
made  the  world  without  a  plan  previously  determined  upon, 
is  to  make  him  less  wise  than  a  human  architect,  who  would 
be  charged  with  great  folly  to  attempt  building  even  a  house 
without  a  plan.  And  to  suppose  that  plan  not  to  extend  to 
every  event,  is  to  rob  God  of  his  infinite  attributes. 

In  the  third  place,  this  theory  falls  in  with  the  common 
interpretation  of  Scripture,  which  refers  the  whole  system  of 
suffering,  decay,  and  death  in  this  world  to  man's  apostasy. 
And  although  the  general  reception  of  any  exegesis  of  Scrip- 
ture does  not  prove  it  to  be  correct,  it  is  certainly  gratifying 
when  a  thorough  examination  proves  the  obvious  sense  of 
a  passage  to  be  the  true  one.  For  to  disturb  the  popular 
interpretation  is,  with  many,  equivalent  to  a  denial  of 
Scripture. 


108  DEATH    A    UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

In  the  fourth  place,  this  theory  shows  us  the  infinite  skill 
and  benevolence  of  Jehovah  in  educing  good  from  evil. 

The  free  agency  of  man  was  an  object  in  the  highest  de- 
gree desirable.  Yet  such  a  character  made  him  liable  to 
fall ;  and  God  knew  that  he  would  fall.  To  human  sagacity 
that  act  would  seem  to  seal  up  his  fate  forever.  But  infinite 
wisdom  saw  that  the  case  was  not  hopeless.  It  placed  him 
in  a  state  of  temporal  suffering  and  temporal  death,  that  he 
might  still  have  a  chance  of  escaping  eternal  suffering  and 
eternal  death.  The  discipline  of  such  a  world  was  eminently 
adapted  to  restore  his  lost  purity,  and  death  was  probably  the 
only  means  by  which  a  fallen  being  could  pass  to  a  higher 
state  of  existence.  That  discipline,  indeed,  if  rightly  im- 
proved, would  probably  fit  him  for  a  higher  degree  of  holiness 
and  happiness  than  if  he  had  never  sinned  ;  so  as  to  make 
true  the  paradoxical  sentiment  of  the  poet, — 

♦'  Death  gives  us  more  than  was  in  Eden  lost." 

Misimproved,  this  discipline  would  result  in  an  infinite  loss, 
far  greater  than  if  man  never  passed  through  it.  But  this  is 
all  the  fault  of  man  ;  while  all  the  benefit  of  a  state  of  pro- 
bation is  the  result  of  God's  infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence. 

In  the  fifth  place,  this  theory  relieves  us  from  the  absurdity 
of  supposing  that  God  was  compelled  to  alter  the  plan  of 
creation  after  man's  apostasy. 

The  common  theory  does  convey  an  idea  not  much  differ- 
ent from  this.  It  makes  the  impression  that  God  was  disap- 
pointed when  man  sinned,  and  being  thereby  thwarted  in  his 
original  purpose,  he  did  the  best  he  could  by  changing  his 
plan,  just  as  men  do  when  some  unexpected  occurrence  inter- 
feres with  their  short-sighted  contrivances.  Now,  such  an 
anthropomorphic  view  of  God  is  inexcusable  in  the  nine- 
teenth century.     It  was  necessary  to  use  such  representations 


DID    GOD    CHANGE    HIS    PLAN  ?  109 

in  the  early  ages  of  the  world,  when  pure  spiritual  ideas 
were  unknown  ;  and  hence  the  Bible  describes  God  as  repent- 
ing and  grieved  that  he  had  made  man.  But  with  the  light 
of  the- New  Testament  and  of  modern  science,  we  ought  to 
be  able  to  enucleate  the  true  spiritual  idea  from  such  descrip- 
tions. The  theory  under  consideration  does  not  reduce  God 
to  any  after-thought  expedients,  but  makes  provision  for  every 
occurrence  in  his  original  plan ;  and,  of  course,  shows  that 
every  event  takes  place  as  he  would  have  it,  when  viewed 
in  its  relations  to  the  great  system  of  the  universe. 

In  the  sixth  place,  this  theory  sheds  some  light  upon  the 
important  question,  why  God  permitted  the  introduction  of 
death  into  the  world. 

It  is  difficult  for  some  persons  to  conceive  why  God,  when 
he  foresaw  Adam's  apostasy,  did  not  change  his  plan  of  crea- 
tion, and  exclude  so  terrible  an  evil  as  death.  But  according 
to  this  theory,  he  permitted  it,  because  it  was  a  necessary 
part  of  a  great  system  of  restoration,  by  which  the  human 
race  might,  if  not  recreant  to  their  true  interests,  be  restored 
to  more  than  their  primeval  blessedness.  It  was  not  intro- 
duced as  a  mere  punishment,  but  as  a  necessary  means  of 
raising  a  fallen  being  into  a  higher  state  of  life  and  blessedness  ; 
or,  if  he  perversely  spurned  the  offered  boon,  of  sinking  him 
down  to  the  deeper  wretchedness  which  is  the  just  conse- 
quence of  unrepented  sin,  without  even  the  sympathy  of  any 
part  of  the  created  universe. 

Finally.  This  subject  throws  some  light  upon  that  strange 
mixture  of  good  and  evil,  which  exists  in  the  present  world. 
We  have  seen,  indeed,  that  benevolence  decidedly  predomi- 
nates in  all  the  arrangements  of  nature ;  and  we  are  called 
upon  continually  to  admire  the  adaptation  of  external  nature 
to  the  human  constitution.  A  large  portion  of  our  sufferings 
10 


110  DEATH    A    UNIVERSAL    LAW. 

here  may  also  be  imputed  to  our  own  sins,  or  the  sins  of  oth- 
ers ;  and  these  we  cannot  charge  upon  God.  But,  after  all,  it 
seems  difficult  to  conceive  how  even  a  sinless  man  could  escape 
a  large  amount  of  suffering  here  ;  enough,  indeed,  to  make 
him  often  sigh  for  deliverance  and  for  a  better  state.  How 
many  sources  of  sufferings  there  are  in  unhealthy  climates, 
mechanical  violence,  and  chemical  agents ;  in  a  sterile  soil, 
in  the  excessive  heats  of  the  tropical  regions,  and  extreme 
cold  of  high  latitudes ;  in  the  encroachments  and  ferocity  of 
the  inferior  animals  ;  in  poisons,  mineral,  vegetable,  and  ani- 
mal ;  in  food  unfitted  to  the  digestive  and  assimilating  organs  ; 
in  the  damps  and  miasms  of  night ;  and  in  the  frequent  neces- 
sity for  over-exertion  of  body  and  mind  !  And  then,  how  many 
hinderances  to  the  exercise  of  the  mental  powers,  in  all  the 
causes  that  have  been  mentioned  !  and  how  does  the  soul  feel 
that  she  is  imprisoned  in  flesh  and  blood,  and  her  energies 
cramped,  and  her  vision  clouded,  by  a  gross  corporeal  me- 
dium !  And  thus  it  is,  to  a  great  extent,  with  all  nature, 
especially  animal  nature  ;  and  I  cannot  but  believe,  as  already 
intimated,  that  Paul  had  these  very  things  in  mind  when  he 
said,  The  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travailelh  together  in 
pain  until  now,  and  waiteth  for  the  manifestation  of  the  sons 
of  God ;  that  is,  for  emancipation  from  its  present  depressed 
and  fettered  condition.  In  short,  while  there  is  so  much  in 
this  world  to  call  forth  our  admiration  and  gratitude  to  God, 
there  is  enough  to  make  us  feel,  also,  that  it  is  a  fallen  con- 
dition. It  is  not  such  a  world  as  infinite  benevolence  would 
provide  for  perfectly  holy  beings,  whom  he  desired  to  make 
perfectly  happy,  but  rather  such  a  world  as  is  adapted  for  a 
condition  of  trial  and  preparation  for  a  higher  state,  when 
both  mind  and  body  would  be  delivered  from  the  fetters  that 
now  cramp  their  exercise. 

Now,  the  theory  which  I  advocate  asserts  that  this  peculiar 


THE    FIRST    ACT    OF    THE    DRAMA.  Ill 

condition  of  the  world  resulted  from  the  divine  determination, 
upon  a  prospective  view  of  man's  transgression.  It  may, 
therefore,  be  properly  regarded  as  occasioned  by  man's  trans- 
gression, but  not  in  the  common  meaning  attached  to  that 
phrase,  which  is,  that,  before  man's  apostasy,  the  constitution 
of  the  world  was  different  from  what  it  now  is,  and  death  did 
not  exist.  This  theory  supposes  God  to  have  devised  the 
present  peculiar  mixed  condition  of  the  world,  as  to  good  and 
evil,  in  eternity,  in  order  to  give  man  an  opportunity  to  rescue 
himself  from  the  penalty  and  misery  of  sin  ;  and  in  order  to 
introduce  those  who  should  do  this  into  a  higher  state  of  ex- 
istence. The  plan,  therefore,  is  founded  in  infinite  wisdom 
and  benevolence,  while  it  brings  out  man's  guilt,  and  the  evil 
of  sin,  in  appalling  distinctness  and  magnitude. 

But,  after  all,  how  little  idea  would  a  man  have  of  the  entire 
plot  of  a  play,  who  had  heard  only  a  part  of  the  first  act ! 
How  little  could  he  judge  of  the  bearing  of  the  first  scene 
upon  the  final  development !  Yet  we  are  now  only  in  the 
first  act  of  the  great  drama  of  human  existence.  Death  shows 
us  that  we  shall  ere  long  be  introduced  into  a  second  act,  and 
affords  a  presumption  that  other  acts  —  it  may  be  in  an  end- 
less series  —  will  succeed,  before  the  whole  plot  shall  have 
passed  before  us ;  and  not  till  then  can  we  be  certain  what 
are  all  the  objects  to  be  accomplished  by  the  introduction  of 
sin  and  death  into  our  world.  And  if  thus  early  we  can 
catch  glimpses  of  great  benefit  to  result  from  these  evils,  what 
full  conviction,  that  infinite  benevolence  has  planned  and  con- 
summated the  whole,  will  be  forced  upon  the  mind,  when  the 
vast  panorama  of  God's  dispensations  shall  lie  spread  out  in 
the  memory  !  For  that  time  shall  Faith  wait,  in  confident 
hope  that  all  her  doubts  and  darkness  shall  be  converted  into 
noonday  brightness. 


(112) 


LECTURE     IV. 

THE    NOACHIAN    DELUGE     COMPARED    WITH    THE 
GEOLOGICAL  DELUGES. 

The  history  of  opinions  respecting  the  deluge  of  Noah  is 
one  of  the  most  curious  and  instructive  in  the  annals  of  man. 
In  this  field,  Christians  have  often  broken  lances  with  infidels, 
and  also  with  one  another.  The  unbeliever  has  confidently- 
maintained  that  the  Bible  history  of  the  deluge  is  at  war  with 
the  facts  and  reasonings  of  science.  Equally  confident  has 
been  the  believer  that  nature  bears  strong  testimony  to  its  oc- 
currence. Some  Christians,  however,  have  asserted,  with  the 
infidel,  that  no  trace  remains  on  the  face  of  nature  of  such  an 
event.  And  as  this  is  a  subject  which  men  are  apt  to  sup- 
pose themselves  masters  of,  when  they  have  only  skimmed 
the  surface,  the  contest  between  these  different  parties  has 
been  severe  and  protracted.  Almost  eveiy  geological  change 
which  the  earth  has  undergone,  from  its  centre  to  its  circum- 
ference, has,  at  one  time  or  another,  been  ascribed  to  this 
deluge.  And  so  plain  has  this  seemed  to  those  who  had  only  a 
partial  view  of  the  facts,  that  those  who  doubted  it  were  often 
denounced  as  enemies  of  revelation.  But  most  of  these  opin- 
ions and  this  dogmatism  are  now  abandoned,  because  both 
Nature  and  Scripture  are  better  understood.  And  among  well- 
informed  geologists,  at  least,  the  opinion  is  almost  universal, 
that  there  are  no  facts  in  their  science  which  can  be  clearly 
referred  to  the  Noachian  deluge ;  that  is,  no  traces  in  nature 


TRADITIONS    OF    A    DELUGE.  113 

of  that  event ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  there  is  nothing 
in  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  deluge  which  would  necessarily 
lead  us  to  expect  permanent  marks  of  such  a  catastrophe 
within  or  upon  the  earth. 

Tf  such  be  the  case,  you  will  doubtless  inquire,  what  con- 
nection there  is  between  geology  and  the  revealed  history  of 
the  deluge,  and  why  the  subject  should  be  introduced  into  this 
series  of  lectures.  I  reply,  that  so  recently  have  correct 
views  been  entertained  on  this  subject,  and  so  little  understood 
are  they,  that  they  need  to  be  defined  and  explained.  And 
if  the  distribution  of  animals  and  plants  on  the  globe  come 
within  the  province  of  geology,  then  this  science  has  a  very 
important  point  of  connection  with  the  history  of  the  deluge, 
as  will  appear  in  the  sequel.  And  finally,  the  history  of  opin- 
ions on  this  subject  is  full  of  instruction  to  those  who  under- 
take to  reason  on  the  connection  between  science  and  religion. 
Obviously,  then,  my  first  object  should  be  to  give  a  brief  his- 
tory of  the  views  that  have  been  entertained  respecting  the 
deluge  of  Noah,  so  far  as  they  have  been  supposed  to  have 
any  connection  with  geology. 

[t  is  well  known,  that  in  the  written  and  unwritten  tradi- 
tions of  almost  every  nation  and  tribe  under  heaven,  the  story 
of  a  general  deluge  has  been  prominent;  and  probably,  in  all 
these  cases,  some  attempt  has  been  made  to  explain  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  waters  were  brought  over  the  land.  But 
most  of  these  reasonings,  especially  in  ancient  times,  are  too 
absurd  to  deserve  even  to  be  recited.  Indeed,  it  is  not  till  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  that  we  find  any  discus- 
sions on  the  subject  worthy  of  notice.  At  that  time,  some 
excavations  at  Verona,  in  Italy,  brought  to  light  many  fossil 
shells,  and  awakened  a  question  as  to  their  origin.  Some 
maintained  that  they  were  only  simulacra^  or  resemblances 
10* 


114  NOACHIAN    AND    GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

to  animals,  but  never  had  a  real  existence.  Tliey  were  sup- 
posed to  have  been  produced  by  a  certain  ^''  materia  pinguis^^"^ 
or  "  fatty  matter,"  existing  in  the  earth.  Others  maintained 
that  they  were  deposited  by  the  deluge  of  Noah.  Such,  in- 
deed, was  the  general  opinion  ;  but  Fracastoro  and  a  few 
others  maintained  that  they  were  once  real  animals,  and  could 
not  have  been  brought  into  their  present  condition  by  the  last 
deluge.  For  more  than  three  hundred  years  have  these  ques- 
tions been  more  or  less  discussed ;  and  though  decided  many 
years  ago  by  all  geologists,  not  a  few  intelligent  men  still 
maintain,  that  petrified  shells  are  mere  abortive  resemblances 
of  real  beings,  or  that  they  were  deposited  by  the  deluge. 

The  advocates  of  the  diluvial  origin  of  petrifactions  soon 
found  themselves  hard  pressed  with  the  question,  how  these 
relics  could  be  scattered  through  strata  many  thousand  feet 
thick,  by  one  transient  flood.  They,  therefore,  came  to  the  con- 
clusion, in  the  words  of  Woodward,  a  distinguished  cosmogo- 
nist  of  the  eighteenth  century,  that  the  "  whole  terrestrial  globe 
was  taken  to  pieces  and  dissolved  at  the  flood,  and  the  strata 
settled  down  from  this  promiscuous  mass,  as  any  earthy  sedi- 
ment from  a  fluid."  During  that  century,  many  works  ap- 
peared upon  cosmogony,  defending  similar  views,  by  such 
men  as  Burnet,  Scheuchzer,  and  Catcott.  Some  of  these 
works  exhibited  no  little  ability,  mixed,  however,  with  hypoth- 
eses so  extravagant  that  they  have  ever  since  been  the  butt 
of  ridicule.  The  very  title  of  Burnet's  work  cannot  but  pro- 
voke a  smile.  It  is  called  "  The  Sacred  Theory  of  the  Earth, 
containing  an  Account  of  the  Original  of  the  Earth,  and  of  all 
the  general  Changes  it  hath  already  undergone,  or  is  to  undergo, 
till  the  Consummation  of  all  Things."  He  maintained  that  the 
primitive  earth  was  only  "  an  orbicular  crust,  smooth,  regular, 
and  uniform,  without  mountains  and  without  a  sea."    This  crust 


catcott's  exposition.  115 

rested  on  the  surface  of  a  watery  abyss,  and,  being  heated  by 
the  sun,  became  chinky ;  and  in  consequence  of  the  rarefac- 
tion of  the  included  vapors,  it  burst  asunder,  and  fell  down 
into  the  waters,  and  so  was  comminuted  and  dissolved,  while 
the  inhabitants  perished.  Catcott's  work  was  confined  exclu- 
sively to  the  deluge,  and  exhibited  a  good  deal  of  ability.  He 
endeavored  to  show,  that  this  dissolution  of  the  earth  by  the 
deluge  was  taught  in  the  Scriptures,  and  his  reasoning  on  that 
point  is  a  fine  example  of  the  state  of  biblical  interpretation 
in  his  day.  "  As  there  are  other  texts,"  says  he,  "  which 
mention  the  dissolution  of  the  earth,  it  may  be  proper  to  cite 
them.  Ps.  xlvi.  2.  God  is  our  refuge  ;  therefore  will  we  not 
fear  though  the  earth  be  removed,  [be  changed,  be  quite  al- 
tered, as  it  was  at  the  deluge.]  God  uttered  his  voice,  the  earth 
melted,  [flowed,  dissolved  to  atoms.]  Again,  Job  xxviii.  9. 
He  sent  his  hand  [the  expansion,  his  instrument,  or  the  agent 
by  which  he  worked]  against  the  rock,  he  overturned  the 
mountains  by  the  roots,  he  caused  the  rivers  to  burst  forth  from 
between  the  rocks,  [or  broke  open  the  fountains  of  the  abyss.] 
His  eye  [symbolically  placed  for  light]  saw  [passed  through, 
or  between]  every  minute  thing,  [every  atom,  and  so  dis- 
solved the  whole.]  He  [at  last]  bound  up  the  waters  from 
weeping,  [i.  e.  from  pressing  through  the  shell  of  the  earth,  as 
tears  make  their  way  through  the  orb  of  the  eye  ;  or,  as  it  is 
related,  (Gen.  viii.  2,)  He  stopped  the  fountains  of  the  abyss 
and  the  loindows  of  heaven,'\  and  brought  out  the  light  from 
its  hiding-place,  [i.e., from  the  inward  parts  of  the  earth,  from 
between  every  atom  where  it  lay  hid,  and  kept  each  atom 
separate  from  the  other,  and  so  the  whole  in  a  state  of  disso- 
lution ;  his  bringing  out  those  parts  of  the  light  which  caused 
the  dissolution  would  of  course  permit  the  agents  to  act  in 
their  usual  way,  and  so  reform  the  earth."]  —  Treatise  on  the 
Deluge,  p.  43,  (London,  176L) 


116         NOACniAN    AND   GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

We  can  hardly  believe  at  the  present  day,  that  a  logical 
and  scientific  mind,  like  that  of  Calcott,  could  satisfy  itself,  by 
such  a  dreamy  exegesis,  that  the  Scriptures  teach  the  earth's 
dissolution  at  the  deluge  ;  especially  when  they  so  distinctly  de- 
scribe the  waters  of  the  deluge,  as  first  rising  over  the  land,  and 
then  sinking  back  to  their  original  position.  Still  more  strange 
is  it  how  Burnet  could  have  thought  it  consistent  with  Scripture 
to  suppose  the  earth,  before  the  flood,  "  to  have  been  covered 
with  an  orbicular  crust,  smooth,  regular,  and  uniform,  without 
mountains  and  without  a  sea,"  when  the  Bible  so  distinctly 
states,  as  the  work  of  the  third  day,  that  the  waters  under  the 
heavens  were  gathered  together  unto  one  place,  and  the  dry 
land  appeared  ;  and  that  God  called  the  dry  land  earth,  and 
the  gathering  together  of  the  waters  he  called  seas ;  and  fur- 
ther, that,  by  the  deluge,  all  the  high  hills  were  covered.  Yet 
these  men  doubtless  supposed  that,  by  the  views  which  they 
advocated,  they  were  defending  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Nay, 
their  views  were  long  regarded  as  exclusively  the  orthodox 
views,  and  opposition  to  them  was  considered,  for  one  or  two 
centuries,  as  virtual  opposition  to  the  Bible.  Truly,  this,  in 
biblical  interpretation,  was  straining  at  a  gnat  and  swallowing 
a  camel. 

It  is  quite  convenient  to  explain  such  anomalies  in  human 
belief,  by  referring  them  to  the  spirit  of  the  age,  or  to  the 
want  of  the  light  of  modern  science.  But  in  the  present  case, 
we  cannot  thus  easily  dispose  of  the  difficulty.  For  in  our 
own  day,  we  have  seen  these  same  absurdities  of  opinion 
maintained  by  a  really  scientific  man,  selected  to  write  one 
of  the  Bridgewater  Treatises,  as  one  of  the  most  learned  men 
in  Great  Britain.  I  refer  to  Rev.  William  Kirby,  evidendy  a 
thorough  entomologist  and  a  sincere  Christian.  But  he  adopts 
the  opinion,  not  only  that  there  exists  a  subterranean  abyss  of 


HUTCHINSONIANISM.  117 

waters,  but  a  subterranean  metropolis  of  animals,  where  the 
huge  leviathians,  the  gigantic  saurians,  dug  out  of  the  rocks 
by  the  geologist,  still  survive ;  and  this  he  endeavors  to  prove 
from  the  Bible.  For  this  purpose  he  quotes  the  passage  in 
Psalms,  though  thou  hast  sore  broken  us  in  the  place  of 
dragons,  and  covered  us  with  the  shadow  of  death.  His  ex- 
position of  this  text  is  much  in  the  style  of  that  already  given 
from  Catcott.  Following  that  writer  and  Hutchinson,  he  en- 
deavors to  show,  by  a  still  more  fanciful  interpretation,  that 
the  phrase  "  windows  of  heaven,"  in  Genesis,  means  cracks 
and  volcanic  rents  in  the  earth,  through  which  air  and  water 
rushed  inwardly  and  outwardly  with  such  violence  as  to  tear 
the  crust  to  pieces.  This  was  the  effect  of  the  increasing 
waters  of  the  deluge  ;  the  bringing  together  of  these  commi- 
nuted particles,  so  as  to  form  the  present  strata,  was  the  work 
of  the  subsiding  waters. 

These  views  will  seem  very  strange  to  those  not  familiar 
with  the  history  of  geology.  But  we  shall  find  their  origin, 
if  a  few  facts  be  stated  respecting  what  has  been  called  the 
physico-theological  school  of  writers,  that  originated  with  one 
Hutchinson,  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.  He 
was  a  disciple  of  the  distinguished  cosmogonist  Woodward. 
But  he  attacked  the  views  of  his  master,  as  well  as  those  of 
Sir  Isaac  Newton  on  gravitation,  in  a  work  which  he  pub- 
lished in  twelve  octavo  volumes,  entitled  "  Moses''s  Prin- 
cipia^  He  there  maintains  that  the  Scriptures,  when  rightly 
understood,  contain  a  complete  system  of  natural  philosophy. 

This  dogma,  advocated  by  Hutchinson  with  the  most  intol- 
erant spirit,  constitutes  the  leading  peculiarity  of  the  physico- 
theological  school,  and  has  been  very  widely  adopted,  and 
has  exerted  a  most  pernicious  influence  both  upon  religion 
and  upon  science.     It  is  painful,  therefore,  to  find  so  learned 


118       NOACHIAN    AND   GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

and  excellent  a  man  as  Mr.  Kirby  so  deeply  imbued  with  it, 
so  long  after  its  absurdity  has  been  shown  again  and  again. 
It  is  devoutly  to  be  wished  that  the  cabalistic  dreams  of 
Hutchinsonianism  are  not  to  be  extensively  revived  in  our 
day.  And,  indeed,  such  is  the  advanced  state  of  her- 
meneutical  knowledge,  that  we  have  little  reason  to  fear  it. 
Nevertheless,  its  leaven  is  yet  by  no  means  thoroughly  purged 
out  from  the  literary  community. 

It  was  one  of  the  settled  principles  of  the  physico-theologi- 
cal  school,  that,  since  the  creation,  the  earth  has  undergone 
no  important  change  beneath  the  surface,  except  at  the  del- 
uge, because  it  was  supposed  that  the  Bible  mentions  no  other 
event  that  could  produce  any  important  change.  Hence  all 
marks  of  changes  in  the  rocks  since  their  original  creation 
must  be  referred  to  the  deluge.  And  especially  when  it  was 
found  that  most  of  the  petrifactions  in  the  rocks  were  of 
marine  origin,  not  only  were  they  supposed  to  be  the  result 
of  the  deluge,  but  a  most  conclusive  proof  of  that  event. 
And  this  opinion  is  even  yet  very  widely  received  by  the 
Christian  world.  The  argument  in  its  favor,  when  stated  in 
a  popular  manner  to  those  not  familiar  with  geology,  is  indeed 
quite  imposing.  For  if  the  land,  almost  every  where,  even 
to  the  tops  of  some  of  its  highest  mountains,  abounds  in  sea 
shells,  this  is  just  what  we  should  expect,  if  the  sea  flowed  over 
those  mountains  at  the  deluge.  But  the  moment  we  come  to 
examine  the  details  respecting  marine  petrifactions,  we  see 
that  nothing  can  be  more  absurd  than  to  suppose  them  the 
result  of  a  transient  deluge.  Yet  this  view  is  maintained  in 
nearly  all  the  popular  commentaries  of  the  present  day  upon 
Genesis,  and  in  many  respectable  periodicals.  It  is  taught, 
therefore,  in  the  Sabbath  school  and  in  the  family  ;  and  the 
child,  as  he  grows  up,  is  shocked  to  find  the  geologist  assailing 


THE    PHYSICO-THEOLOGICAL    SCHOOL.  119 

it ;  and  when  he  finds  it  false,  he  is  in  danger  of  becoming 
jealous  of  the  other  evidences  of  Christianity  which  he  has 
been  taught. 

Another  branch  of  the  modern  physico- theological  school, 
embracing  men  who  have  read  too  much  on  the  subject  of 
geology  to  be  able  to  believe  in  the  dissolution  of  the  globe 
by  the  deluge,  have  adopted  a  more  plausible  hypothesis.  They 
suppose  that  between  the  creation  and  the  deluge,  or  in  six- 
teen hundred  and  fifty-six  years,  according  to  the  received 
chronology,  all  the  present  fossiliferous  rocks  of  our  conti- 
nents, more  than  six  miles  in  thickness,  were  deposited  at  the 
bottom  of  the  ocean.  By  that  event,  they  were  raised  from 
beneath  the  waters,  and  the  continents  previously  existing 
sunk  down  and  disappeared  ;  so  that  the  land  now  inhabited 
was  formerly  the  ocean's  bed.  To  prove  that  such  a  change 
took  place  at  the  deluge,  Granville  Penn  and  Fairholme  quote 
the  declaration  of  God,  in  Genesis,  respecting  the  flood  — 
/  will  destroy  them,  (i.  e.,  men,)  and  the  earth,  or  with  the 
earth;  also  the  statement  of  Peter — The  ivorld  that  then 
was,  being  overjlowed  with  ivater,  perished.  The  terms  earth 
and  ivorld  may  mean  either  the  solid  globe,  or  the  animals 
and  plants  upon  it.  If  in  these  passages  they  have  the  latter 
meaning,  then  they  simply  teach  that  the  deluge  destroyed 
the  natural  life  of  organic  beings.  If  they  have  the  former 
meaning,  then  the  inquiry  arises.  What  are  we  to  understand 
by  the  destruction  here  described  ?  It  may  mean  annihila- 
tion, or  it  may  imply  ruin  in  some  respects.  That  annihila- 
tion did  not  result  from  the  deluge  is  evident  from  the  case 
of  rnen,  who  suffered  only  temporal  death,  and  even  this  was 
not  universal ;  and  we  know,  also,  that  the  matter  of  the 
earth  did  not  perish.  We  must  resort,  therefore,  to  the 
sacred   history  to  learn   how   far  the  destruction    extended. 


120        NOACHIAN   AND   GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

That  history  seems  very  plain.  There  was  a  rain  of  forty 
days,  and  the  fountains  of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up ; 
that  is,  as  Professor  Stuart  happily  expresses  it,  "  The  ocean 
overflowed  while  the  rain  descended  in  vast  quantities."  The 
waters  gradually  rose  over  the  dry  land,  and  after  a  hundred 
and  fifty  days,  began  to  subside,  and  at  the  end  of  a  year  and 
a  few  days  they  were  gone.  Such  an  overflowing  could  not 
take  place  without  producing  the  almost  entire  destruction 
of  organic  life,  and  making  extensive  havoc  with  the  soil, 
especially  as  a  wind  assisted  in  driving  these  waters  from  the 
land.  But  there  is  nothing  in  the  narrative  that  would  lead 
us  to  suppose  either  a  comminution  or  dissolution  of  the 
earth,  or  the  elevation  of  the  ocean's  bed.  The  same  land 
which  was  overflowed  is  described  as  again  emerging.  In- 
deed, a  part  of  the  rivers  proceeding  out  of  the  garden  of 
Eden  are  the  same  as  those  now  existing  on  the  globe.  We 
must  then  admit  that  our  present  continents,  —  certainly  the 
Asiatic,  —  are  the  same  as  the  antediluvian,  or  deny  that  the 
account  of  Eden,  in  Genesis,  is  a  part  of  the  Bible.  The 
latter  alternative  is  preferred  by  Penn  and  Fairholme. 
Surely  such  men  ought  to  be  cautious  how  they  censure 
geologists  for  modifying  the  meaning  of  some  verses  in  Gen- 
esis, when  they  thus,  without  any  evidence  of  its  spurious- 
ness,  unceremoniously  erase  so  important  a  passage. 

I  might  add  to  all  this  that  the  facts  of  geology  forbid  the 
idea  that  our  present  continents  formed  the  bed  of  the  ocean 
at  so  recent  a  date  as  that  of  Noah's  deluge,  and  that  the  sup- 
position that  all  organic  remains  were  deposited  during  the 
two  thousand  years  between  the  six  days'  work  and  the  del- 
uge is  totally  irreconcilable  with  all  correct  philosophy. 
Why,  during  the  time  when  the  fossiliferous  rocks  were  in  a 
course  of  formation,  four  or  five  entirely  distinct   races  of 


SUPPOSED  TRACES  OF  NOAH  S  DELUGE.         121 

animals  and  plants  successively  occupied  the  land  and  the 
waters,  and  passed  away  in  regular  order  ;  and  these  races 
were  so  unlike,  that  they  could  not  have  been  contemporane- 
ous. Who  will  maintain  that  all  this  took  place  in  the  short 
period  of  two  thousand  years  ?  I  am  sure  that  no  geologist 
will. 

But  modern  geologists  have,  until  recently,  supposed  that 
the  traces  of  Noah's  deluge  might  still  be  seen  upon  the 
earth's  surface.  I  say  its  surface  ;  for  none  of  them  imagined 
those  effects  could  have  reached  to  a  great  depth.  Over  a 
large  part  of  the  northern  hemisphere  they  found  extensive 
accumulations  of  gravel  and  bowlders,  which  had  been  re- 
moved often  a  great  distance  from  their  parent  rocks,  while  the 
ledges  beneath  were  smoothed  and  striated,  obviously  by  the 
grating  over  them  of  these  piles  of  detritus.  How  very  nat- 
ural to  refer  these  effects  to  the  agency  of  currents  of  water ; 
just  such  currents  as  might  have  resulted  from  a  universal 
deluge.  But  the  inference  was  a  hasty  one.  For  when  geol- 
ogists came  to  study  the  phenomena  of  drift  or  diluvium,  as 
these  accumulations  of  travelled  matter  are  called,  they  found 
that  currents  of  water  alone  would  not  explain  them  all. 
Some  other  agency  must  have  been  concerned  ;  and  the  gen- 
eral opinion  now  is,  that  drift  has  been  the  result  of  the  joint 
action  of  water  and  ice  ;  and  nearly  all  geologists  suppose 
that  this  action  took  place  before  man's  existence  on  the 
globe.  Some  suppose  it  to  have  been  the  result  of  oceanic 
currents,  while  yet  our  continents  were  beneath  the  waters  ; 
others  think  that  the  northern  ocean  may  have  been  thrown 
southerly  over  the  dry  land  by  the  elevation  of  its  bed  ;  and 
others  maintain  that  vast  masses  of  ice  may  formerly  have  en- 
circled high  latitudes,  whose  glaciers,  melting  away,  may  have 
driven  towards  the  equator  the  great  quantities  of  drift  and 
11 


122       NOACHIAN   AND   GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

bowlders  which  have  been  carried  in  that  direction.  In  short, 
it  is  now  found  that  this  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  problems 
in  geology  ;  and  while  most  geologists  agree  that  both  ice  and 
water  have  been  concerned  in  producing  the  phenomena,  the 
time  and  manner  of  their  action  are  not  yet  very  satisfactorily 
determined.  They  may  have  acted  at  different  periods  and 
in  divers  manners ;  but  all  the  phenomena  could  not  have 
been  the  result  of  one  transient  deluge. 

From  the  facts  that  have  now  been  detailed,  it  appears  that 
on  no  subject  of  science  connected  with  religion  have  men 
been  more  positive  and  dogmatical  than  in  respect  to  Noah's 
deluge,  and  that  on  no  subject  has  there  been  greater  change 
of  opinion.  From  a  belief  in  the  complete  destruction  and 
dissolution  of  the  globe  by  that  event,  those  best  qualified  to 
judge  now  doubt  whether  it  be  possible  to  identify  one  mark 
of  that  event  in  nature. 

I  shall  now  proceed  to  state,  in  a  more  definite  form,  the 
views  of  this  subject  entertained  by  the  most  enlightened 
judges  of  its  merits  at  the  present  day. 

In  the  first  place,  most  of  the  cases  of  accumulations  of 
drift,  the  dispersion  of  bowlders,  and  the  polish  and  strice, 
upon  rocks  in  place,  occurred  previous  to  man''s  existence 
upon  the  globe,  and  cannot  have  been  the  result  of  Noa^s 
deluge. 

From  the  arguments  for  sustaining  this  position  I  shall 
select  only  a  part. 

The  first  is,  that  the  organic  remains  found  in  the  alluvium 
considerably  above  the  drift,  which  always  lies  below  the 
alluvium,  are  many  of  them  of  extinct  species.  Whether 
the  genuine  drift  —  a  heterogeneous  mass  of  fragments, 
driven  pellmell  together — contains  any  organic  relics,  is  to 
me  very  doubtful.     But  if  the  stratified  deposits  subsequent 


DRIFT    AND    NOAH's    DELUGE.  123 

to  the  drift  present  us  with  beings  no  longer  alive  on  the 
globe,  much  more  would  the  drift.  Now,  the  presumption  is, 
that  extinct  animals  and  plants  belong  to  a  creation  anterior 
to  man,  especially  if  they  exhibit  a  tropical  character,  —  as 
those  do  which  are  usually  assigned  to  the  drift,  —  since  we 
have  no  evidence  of  a  tropical  climate  in  northern  latitudes 
till  we  get  back  to  a  period  far  anterior  to  man. 

Secondly.  No  remains  of  man  or  his  works  have  been  found 
in  drift,  nor  indeed  till  we  rise  almost  to  the  top  of  the  allu- 
vial deposit.  Even  ancient  Armenia  has  now  been  examined 
geologically,  with  sufficient  care  to  make  it  almost  certain 
that  human  remains  do  not  exist  there  in  drift,  if  drift  is 
found  there  at  all ;  of  which  there  may  be  a  question. 

Thirdly.  The  agency  producing  drift  must  have  operated 
during  a  vastly  longer  period  than  the  three  hundred  and 
eighty  days  of  Noah's  deluge.  It  would  be  easy  to  show  to 
a  geologist  that  the  extensive  erosions  which  are  referrible  to 
that  agency,  and  the  huge  masses  of  detritus  which  have 
been  the  result,  must  have  demanded  centuries,  and  even 
decades  of  years.  Nor  will  any  supposed  increase  of  power 
in  the  agency  explain  the  results,  without  admitting  a  long 
period  for  their  action. 

Fourthly.  Water  appears  to  have  been  the  principal  agent 
in  the  Noachian  deluge ;  but  in  the  production  of  drift,  ice 
was  at  least  equally  concerned. 

Finally.  The  phenomena  of  deltas,  terraces,  and  ancient 
sea-beaches,  make  the  period  of  the  drift  immensely  more 
remote  than  the  deluge  of  Noah,  since  these  phenomena  are 
all  posterior  to  the  drift  period.  I  need  not  go  into  the  details 
of  this  argument  here,  since  I  have  drawn  them  out  in  my 
second  lecture.  But  of  all  the  arguments  ever  adduced  to 
prove  the  great  length  of  time  occupied  in  geological  changes. 


124        NOACHIAN    AND    GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

this  —  which,  so  far  as  the  terraces  are  concerned,  has  never 
before,  1  believe,  been  adduced  — seems  to  me  the  most  con- 
vincing to  those  who  carefully  examine  the  subject. 

We  may  be  sure,  then,  that  the  commencement  of  the  drift 
period,  and  the  deluge  of  Noah,  cannot  have  been  synchro- 
nous. But  the  drift  agency,  connected,  as  nearly  all  geologists 
seem  now  to  be  ready  to  admit,  with  the  vertical  movements 
of  continents,  may  have  operated,  and  undoubtedly  has,  at 
various  periods,  and  very  possibly,  in  some  parts  of  the  world, 
long  posterior  to  the  period  usually  called  the  drift  period.  I 
agree,  therefore,  in  opinion  with  one  of  the  most  eminent 
and  judicious  of  the  European  geologists,  Professor  Sedgwick, 
of  Cambridge,  when  he  says,  "  If  we  have  the  clearest  proofs 
of  great  ascillations  of  sea  level,  and  have  a  right  to  make  use 
of  them,  while  we  seek  to  explain  some  of  the  latest  phenom- 
ena of  geology,  may  we  not  reasonably  suppose,  that,  within 
the  period  of  human  histoiy,  similar  oscillations  have  taken 
place  in  those  parts  of  Asia  which  were  the  cradle  of  our 
race,  and  may  have  produced  that  destruction  among  the 
early  families  of  men,  which  is  described  in  our  sacred  books, 
and  of  which  so  many  traditions  have  been  brought  down  to 
us  through  all  the  streams  of  authentic  history  ?  " —  Geology 
of  the  Lake  District,  p.  14. 

Secondly.  Admitting  the  deluge  to  have  been  universal  over 
the  globe,  it  could  not  have  deposited  the  fossil  remains  in  the 
rocks. 

This  position  is  too  plain  to  the  practical  geologist  to  need 
a  formal  argument  to  sustain  it.  But  there  are  many  intelli- 
gent men,  who  do  not  see  clearly  why  the  remains  of  marine 
animals  and  plants  may  not  be  referred  to  the  deluge.  And 
if  they  could  be,  then  all  the  demands  of  the  geologist  for 
long  periods  anterior  to  man  are  without  foundation.  But  they 
cannot  be,  for  the  following  reasons  :  — 


FOSSIL    REMAINS    AND    THE    DELUGE.  125 

First.  On  this  supposition  the  organic  remains  ought  to  be 
confusedly  mingled  together,  since  they  must  have  been 
brought  over  the  land  promiscuously  by  the  waters  of  the 
deluge  ;  but  they  are  in  fact  arranged  in  as  much  order  as 
the  specimens  of  a  well-regulated  cabinet.  The  different 
rocks  that  lie  above  one  another  do,  indeed,  contain  some 
species  that  are  common ;  but  the  most  are  peculiar.  It  is 
impossible  to  explain  such  a  fact  if  they  were  deposited  by 
the  deluge. 

Secondly.  On  this  theory,  at  least,  a  part  of  the  organic 
remains  ought  to  correspond  with  living  animals  and  plants, 
since  the  deluge  took  place  so  long  after  the  six  days  of  cre- 
ation. But  with  the  exception  of  a  few  species  near  the  top 
of  the  series,  the  fossil  species  are  wholly  unlike  those  now 
alive. 

Thirdly.  How,  by  this  theory,  can  we  explain  the  fact,  that 
there  are  found  in  the  rocks  at  least  five  distinct  races  of  ani- 
mals and  plants,  so  unlike  that  they  could  not  have  been  con- 
temporaries ?  or  for  the  fact,  that  most  of  them  are  of  a 
highly  tropical-character  ?  or  for  the  fact,  that  as  we  rise  higher 
in  the  rocks,  there  is  a  nearer  and  nearer  approach  to  existing 
species  ? 

Fourthly.  This  theory  requires  us  to  admit,  that  in  three 
hundred  and  eighty  days  the  waters  of  the  deluge  deposited 
rocks  at  least  six  miles  in  thickness,  over  half  or  two  thirds  of 
our  existing  continents  ;  and  these  rocks  made  up  of  hundreds 
of  thick  beds,  exceedingly  unlike  one  another  in  composition 
and  organic  contents.  Will  any  reasonable  man  believe  this 
possible  without  a  miracle  ? 

But  I  need  not  multiply  arguments  on  this  point.  It  is  a 
theory  which  no  reasonable  man  can  long  maintain  after  study- 
ing the  subject.  And  if  it  be  indeed  true,  that  neither  in  the 
11* 


126       NOACHIAN    AND   GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

drift,  nor  in  the  fossiliferous  rocks,  can  we  discover  any  traces 
of  the  deluge,  then  we  shall  find  them  nowhere  on  the 
globe.     But 

Thirdly.  There  are  no  facts  in  geology  that  afford  any 
presumption  against  the  occurrence  of  the  Noachian  deluge, 
hut  rather  the  contrary. 

The  geologist  says  only,  that  if  any  traces  of  it  exist,  he 
cannot  distinguish  them  from  the  effects  of  other  analogous 
agencies  that  have  operated  on  the  globe  at  various  periods. 
Some  parts  of  the  globe  do  not  exhibit  marks  of  any  powerful 
aqueous  action,  such  as  high  northern  and  southern  latitudes 
do  exhibit.  But  the  sacred  record,  in  its  account  of  the  access 
and  subsidence  of  diluvial  waters,  does  not  require  us  to  sup- 
pose any  great  degree  of  violence  in  their  action  on  the  sur- 
face ;  and  although  currents  somewhat  powerful  must  have 
been  the  result,  yet  they  may  not  have  existed  every  where, 
nor  have  always  left  traces  of  their  passage  where  they  did 
exist.  On  the  other  hand,  the  geologist  will  admit,  as  we 
have  already  seen,  that  in  the  elevation  and  subsidence  of 
mountains  and  continents,  and  in  volcanic  agency  generally, 
of  which  geology  contains  so  many  examples,  we  have  an 
adequate  cause  for  extensive,  if  not  universal,  deluges;  nor 
can  he  say  how  recently  this  cause  may  have  operated  be- 
neath certain  oceans,  sufficiently  to  produce  the  deluge  of  the 
Scriptures.  So  that,  in  fact,  we  have  in  geology  a  presump- 
tion in  favor  of,  rather  than  against,  such  a  deluge.  Nay, 
some,  who  have  examined  Armenia,  have  thought  they  found 
there  a  deposit  which  could  be  referred  to  the  deluge  of  Noah  ; 
but  1  have  no  access  to  any  facts  on  this  point. 

Fourthly.  There  are  reasons.,  both  in  natural  history  and 
in  the  Scriptures.,  for  supposing  that  the  deluge  may  not  have 
heen  universal  over  the  globe.,  but  only  over  the  region  inhab- 
ited by  man. 


WAS  THE  DELUGE  UNIVERSAL  ?  127 

This  is  a  position  of  no  small  importance,  and  will,  there- 
fore, require  our  careful  examination.  And  in  the  beginning, 
I  wish  to  premise,  that  I  assume  the  deluge  to  have  been 
brought  about  by  natural  operations,  or  in  conformity  with 
the  laws  of  nature.  I  feel  no  reluctance  in  admitting  it  to 
have  been  strictly  miraculous,  provided  the  narrative  will  al- 
low of  such  a  conclusion.  But  if  it  was  miraculous,  then  we 
must  give  up  the  idea  of  philosophizing  about  it,  and  believe 
the  facts  simply  on  the  divine  testimony.  For  how  can  we 
philosophize  upon  an  event  that  is  brought  about  by  the  direct 
efficiency  of  God,  and  without  reference  to  existing  natural 
laws,  and,  it  may  be,  in  contravention  of  them,  unless,  indeed, 
the  history  contains  such  contradictions  as  even  infinite  power 
and  wisdom  could  not  make  harmonious  ?  Some  writers  en- 
deavor to  show  the  conformity  of  the  sacred  history  of  the 
deluge  to  established  natural  laws,  until  they  meet  with  some 
objection  too  strong  to  be  answered,  when  they  turn  round 
and  declare  the  whole  occurrence  to  have  been  miraculous. 
This  I  conceive  to  be  absurd,  and  I  shall  accordingly  proceed 
on  the  supposition  that  the  whole  event  was  a  penal  infliction, 
brought  about  by  natural  laws  ;  or,  at  least,  if  there  was  any 
thing  miraculous,  it  consisted  in  giving  greater  power  to  nat- 
ural operations,  without  interfering  with  the  regular  sequence 
of  cause  and  effect.  And  does  not  the  narrative  leave  the  im- 
pression on  the  mind  of  the  reader,  that  it  was  brought  about 
by  natural  means  ?  The  sacred  writer  distinctly  assigns  two 
natural  causes  of  the  increase  of  the  waters,  viz.,  a  rain  of 
forty  days  and  the  breaking  up  of  the  fountains  of  the  great 
deep,  which  doubtless  means  an  overflow  of  the  ocean  ;  and, 
to  hasten  the  subsidence  of  the  waters,  it  is  said  that  God 
made  a  wind  to  blow  over  the  surface.  It  is  no  proof  of  mi- 
raculous agency,  that  the  whole  work  is  referred  to  the  imme- 


128        NOACHIAN    AND   GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

diate  power  of  God,  for  it  is  well  known  that  this  is  the  usual 
mode  in  which  the  sacred  writers  speak  of  natural  events. 

The  first  difficulty  in  the  way.  of  supposing  the  flood  to 
have  been  literally  universal,  is  the  great  quantity  of  water 
that  would  have  been  requisite. 

The  amount  necessary  to  cover  the  earth  to  the  tops  of  the 
highest  mountains,  or  about  five  miles  above  the  present 
oceans,  would  be  eight  times  greater  than  that  existing  on  the 
globe  at  this  time.  From  whence  could  this  immense  volume 
of  water  have  been  derived  ?  A  great  deal  of  ingenuity  has 
been  devoted  to  give  an  answer  to  this  inquiry.  By  some  it 
has  been  supposed,  that  most  of  the  earth's  interior  is  occu- 
pied by  water,  and  the  theorist  had  only  to  devise  means  for 
forcing  it  to  the  surface.  One  does  this  by  the  forcible  com- 
pression of  the  crust ;  another,  by  the  expansive  power  of 
internal  heat ;  another,  by  the  generation  of  various  gases 
through  galvanic  action.  Others  have  maintained  that  the 
antediluvian  continents  were  sunk  beneath  the  ocean  at  that 
time,  though  such  find  it  hard  to  tell  us  why  there  was  a  rain 
of  forty  days  upon  land  that  was  ready  to  subside  beneath  the 
ocean.  Others  have  resort  to  a  comet's  impinging  against 
the  earth,  and  throwing  the  waters  of  the  ocean  over  the  land. 
But  they  were  not  aware  that  comets  are  mere  vapor.  Others 
suppose  (and  surely  theirs  is  the  most  plausible  theory)  that 
the  elevation  of  the  bed  of  some  ocean,  by  volcanic  agency, 
threw  its  waters  over  the  adjoining  continents,  and  the  mighty 
wave  thus  produced  would  not  stop  till  it  had  swept  over  all 
other  continents  and  islands.  But  in  this  case,  it  is  evident 
that  the  continent  first  overflowed  must  have  been  left  dry 
before  the  wave  had  reached  other  continents,  so  that,  in  fact, 
all  parts  of  the  earth*  would  not  have  been  enveloped  simulta- 
neously ;  and  besides,  how  unlike  such  a  violent  rushing  of 


CAPACITY    OF    THE    ARK.  129 

tlie  waters  over  the  land  is  the  scriptural  account !  In  short, 
so  unsatisfactory  have  been  most  of  the  theories  to  account 
for  the  water  requisite  to  produce  a  universal  deluge,  that  most 
writers  have  resorted,  in  the  end,  to  miraculous  agency  to  ob- 
tain it.  And  that,  in  fact,  is  the  most  satisfactory  mode  of  get- 
ting over  this  difficulty,  if  the  Scriptures  unequivocally  teach 
the  universality  of  the  deluge. 

.  A  second  objection  to  such  a  universality  is,  the  difficulty 
of  providing  for  the  animals  in  the  ark. 

Calculations  have  indeed  been  made,  which  seemed  to  show 
that  the  ark  was  capacious  enough  to  hold  the  pairs  and  sep- 
tuples of  all  the  species.  But,  unfortunately,  the  number  of 
species  assumed  to  exist  by  the  calculators  was  vastly  below 
the  truth.  It  amounted  only  to  three  or  four  hundred  ; 
whereas  the  actual  number  already  described  by  zoologists 
is  not  less  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  ;  and  the  prob- 
able number  existing  on  the  globe  is  not  less  than  half  a  mil- 
lion. And  for  the  greater  part  of  these  must  provision  have 
been  made,  since  most  of  them  inhabit  either  the  air  or  the 
dry  land.  A  thousand  species  of  mammalia,  six  thousand 
species  of  birds,  two  thousand  species  of  reptiles,  and  one 
hundred  and  twenty  thousand  species  of  insects  are  already 
described,  and  must  have  been  provided  with  space  and  food. 
Will  any  one  believe  this  possible,  in  a  vessel  not  more  than 
four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  seventy-five  feet  broad,  and 
forty-five  feet  high  ? 

The  third  and  most  important  objection  to  this  universality 
of  the  deluge  is  derived  from  the  facts  brought  to  light  by 
modern  science,  respecting  the  distribution  of  animals  and 
plants  on  the  globe. 

It  was  the  opinion  of  Linnaeus  that  all  animals  and  plants 
had  their  commencement  in  a  particular  region  of  the  earth, 


130       NOACHIAN    AND    GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

from  whence  they  migrated  into  all  other  parts  of  its  surface. 
And  had  no  new  facts  come  to  light  since  his  day,  to  change 
the  aspect  of  the  subject,  one  would  hesitate  long  before  adopt- 
ing views  opposed  to  so  distinguished  a  naturalist.  But  new 
facts,  in  vast  numbers,  have  been  multiplying  ever  since  his 
day,  and  zoologists  and  botanists  now  almost  universally  adopt 
the  opinion,  early  promulgated  by  Dr.  Prichard,  in  his  admi- 
rable work  on  the  Physical  History  of  Man,  that  there  must 
have  been  several  centres  of  creation,  from  which  the  ani- 
mals and  plants  radiated  only  so  far  as  the  climate  and  food 
were  adapted  to  their  natures,  except  a  few  species  endowed 
with  the  power  of  accommodating  themselves  to  all  climates. 
Certain  it  is  that  they  are  now  thus  distributed ;  and  it  is 
inevitable  death  for  most  species  to  venture  beyond  certain 
limits.  If  tropical  animals  and  plants,  for  instance,  were  to 
migrate  to  the  temperate  zones,  and  especially  to  the  frigid 
regions,  they  could  not  long  survive  ;  and  almost  equally  fatal 
would  it  be  for  the  animals  and  plants  of  high  latitudes  to  take 
up  their  abode  near  the  equator.  But  even  within  the  tropics 
we  find  distinct  species  of  animals  and  plants  on  opposite  con- 
tinents. Indeed,  naturalists  reckon  a  large  number  of  botan- 
ical and  zoological  districts,  or  provinces,  as  they  are  called, 
within  which  they  find  certain  peculiar  groups  of  animals  and 
plants,  with  natures  exactly  adapted  to  that  particular  district, 
but  incapable  of  enduring  the  different  climate  of  adjoining 
districts.  They  differ  considerably  as  to  the  number  of  these 
districts,  because  the  plants  and  animals  of  our  globe  are  by 
no  means  yet  fully  described,  and  because  the  districts  assigned 
to  the  different  classes  do  not  fully  coincide  ;  but  as  to  the  ex- 
istence of  such  a  distribution,  they  are  of  one  opinion.  The 
most  reliable  divisions  of  this  kind  make  twenty-five  botanical 


DISTRIBUTION    OF    ANIMALS.  131 

provinces,  and  five  kingdoms  and  fourteen  provinces  among 
animals.* 

The  fact  that  man,  and  some  of  the  domesticated  animals, 
and  a  few  plants,  are  found  in  almost  every  climate,  has,  until 
recently,  blinded  the  eyes  of  naturalists  to  the  manner  in 
which  the  great  mass  of  animals  and  plants  are  confined  within 
certain  prescribed  limits.  But  so  soon  as  the  general  fact  is 
stated,  we  immediately  recur  to  abundant  proof  of  its  truth. 
We  should  be  disposed  to  question  the  veracity  of  that  trav- 
eller who  should  visit  a  new  and  remote  country,  and  describe 
its  vegetable  and  animal  productions  as  essentially  the  same 
as  in  our  own  ;  and  all  because  the  analogy  of  other  portions 
of  the  globe  leads  us  to  expect  that  a  new  geographical  prov- 
ince shall  present  us  with  a  peculiar  yawwa  and  ^ora;  that  is, 
with  peculiar  groups  of  animals  and  plants. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  facts  which  have  been  stated  have  an 
important  bearing  upon  the  mode  in  which  the  animals  were 
brought  together  to  enter  the  ark,  and  were  afterwards  dis- 
tributed through  the  earth,  if  the  deluge  were  universal.  Cer- 
tain it  is  that,  without  miraculous  preservation,  they  could 
never  have  been  brought  together,  nor  again  dispersed.  We 
have  reason  to  suppose  that  the  ark  was  constructed  in  some 
part  of  the  temperate  zone.  Now,  suppose  the  animals  of 
the  torrid  zone  at  the  present  day  to  attempt,  by  natural  means, 
to  reach  the  temperate  zone ;  who  does  not  know  that  nearly 
all  of  them  must  perish  ?  Nor  is  it  any  easier  to  conceive 
how,  after  the  flood,  they  could  have  migrated  into  all  conti- 
nents, and  islands,  and  chmates,  and  how  each  species  should 
have  found  the  place  exactly  fitted  to  its  constitution,  as  we 
now   find  them.      Indeed,  the    idea  of  their  collection  and 

*  Johnston's  Physical  Atlas,  pp.  66,  76,  (Philadelphia  edition,  1850.) 


132        NOACHIAN    AND    GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

dispersion  in  a  natural  way  is  altogether  too  absurd  to  be 
believed.  And  we  must,  therefore,  resort  to  a  miracle,  or 
suppose  a  new  creation  to  have  taken  place  after  the  deluge, 
or  admit  the  flood  to  have  been  limited.  If  the  latter  suppo- 
sition be  not  inconsistent  with  the  Bible,  it  completely  relieves 
the  difficulty.  If  we  suppose  the  limited  region  of  Central 
Asia,  where  man  existed,  to  have  been  deluged,  and  pairs 
and  septuples  of  the  most  common  animals  in  that  region  only 
to  have  been  kept  alive  in  the  ark,  the  entire  account  will 
harmonize  with  natural  history.  The  question,  then,  whether 
such  a  view  is  consistent  with  the  Bible,  becomes  of  great 
interest ;  and  to  this  point  I  beg  leave  next  to  direct  your 
attention. 

If  we  understand  the  scriptural  account  to  denote  a  literal 
universality,  it  is  certainly  very  natural  to  inquire  why  such 
universality  was  necessary,  since  the  deluge  is  represented  as 
a  penal  infliction  upon  man.  For  it  seems  difficult  to  believe, 
as  some  writers  have  attempted  to  prove,  that  the  human  fam- 
ily had  become  very  numerous,  or  had  extended  far  beyond 
the  spot  whei^  they  were  first  planted,  in  less  than  two  thou- 
sand years ;  especially  when  we  recollect  how  iew  were  the 
children  of  patriarchs  whose  age  amounted  to  many  centu- 
ries, and  how  very  probable  it  is  that  the  extreme  wickedness 
of  most  of  the  antediluvians  tended  to  their  extinction  rather 
than  their  multiplication.  Why,  then,  for  the  sake  of  destroy- 
ing man,  occupying  probably  only  a  limited  portion  of  one 
continent,  was  it  necessary  to  depopulate  all  other  continents 
and  islands,  inhabited  only  by  irresponsible  animals,  who  had 
no  connection  with  man  ?  If  the  Scriptures  unequivocally 
declare  that  such  was  the  fact,  we  are  bound  to  believe  it  on 
divine  testimony.  But  if  their  language  admits  of  a  different 
ijiterpretation,  it  seems  reasonable  to  adopt  it. 


WAS  THE  DELUGE  UNIVERSAL?  133 

And  here  I  am  willing  to  acknowledge  that  the  language 
of  the  Bible  on  this  subject  seems,  at  first  view,  to  teach  the 
universality  of  the  flood,  unequivocally.  The  waters^  say 
they,  ^prevailed  exceedingly  upon  the  earth,  and  all  the  high 
hills  that  were  under  the  whole  heaven  were  covered.  Again  : 
Behold^  7,  even  /,  do  hring  a  Jlood  of  waters  upon  the  earth 
to  destroy  all  Jlesh,  wherein  is  the  breath  of  life,  from  under 
heaven ;  and  every  thing  that  is  in  the  earth  shall  die.  If 
such  language  be  interpreted  by  the  same  rules  which  we 
should  apply  to  a  modern  composition,  it  could  in  no  way  be 
understood  to  teach  a  limited  deluge  or  a  partial  destruction. 
But  in  respect  to  this  ancient  record,  two  considerations  are  to 
be  carefully  weighed. 

In  the  first  place,  the  terms  employed  are  not  to  be  judged 
of  by  the  state  of  knowledge  in  the  nineteenth  century,  but 
by  its  state  among  the  people  to  whom  this  revelation  was 
first  addressed.  When  the  earth  was  spoken  of  to  that  peo- 
ple, (the  ancient  Jews,)  they  could  not  have  understood  it  to 
embrace  a  much  wider  region  than  that  inhabited  by  man, 
because  they  could  not  have  had  any  idea  of  what  lay  beyond 
those  limits.  And  so  of  the  phrase  heaven  ;  it  must  have 
been  coextensive  with  the  inhabited  earth  only.  And  when 
it  was  said  that  all  animals  would  die  by  the  deluge,  they 
could  not  have  supposed  the  declaration  to  embrace  creatures 
far  beyond  the  dwellings  of  men,  because  they  knew  nothing 
of  such  regions.  Why,  then,  may  we  not  attach  the  same 
limited  meaning  to  these  declarations  ?  Why  should  we  sup- 
pose that  the  Holy  Spirit  used  terms,  adapted,  indeed,  to  the 
astronomy  and  geography  of  the  nineteenth  century,  but  con- 
veying only  a  false  idea  to  those  to  whom  they  were  ad- 
dressed ? 

In  the  second  place,  in  all  ages  and  nations,  and  especially 
12 


134       NOACHIAN    AND    GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

among  ancient  ones,  "  universal  terms  are  often  used  to  sig- 
nify only  a  very  large  amount  in  number  or  quantity."  — 
Dr.  Smith,  Scrip,  and  Geol.  p.  212,  4th  ed.  —  The  Hebrew 
^5,  (kol,)  the  Greek  7t«c,  and  the  English  all,  are  alike  em- 
ployed in  this  manner,  to  signify  many.  There  are  some  very 
striking  cases  of  this  sort  in  the  Bible.  Thus  in  Genesis  it  is 
said  that  all  countries  came  into  Egypt  to  Joseph  to  buy  corn., 
because  the  famine  teas  sore  in  all  lands.  This  certainly  could 
apply  only  to  the  well-known  countries  around  Egypt ;  for 
transportation  would  have  been  impossible  to  the  remotest 
parts  of  the  habitable  globe.  In  the  account  of  the  plagues 
that  came  upon  Egypt,  it  is  said  that  the  hail  smote  every 
herb  of  the  feld,  and  brake  every  tree  of  the  field  ;  but,  in  a 
few  days  afterwards,  it  is  said  of  the  locusts  that  they  did  eat 
every  herb  of  the  land  and  all  the  fruit  of  the  trees  which 
the  hail  had  left.  This  day,  said  God  to  the  Israelites,  while 
yet  in  their  journeyings,  will  I  begin  to  put  the  fear  of  thee 
and  the  dread  of  thee  upon  the  face  of  the  nations  under  all 
the  heavens.  But  it  is  obvious  that  only  the  nations  contigu- 
ous to  the  Israelites,  chiefly  the  Canaanites,  are  here  meant. 
In  the  New  Testament,  it  is  said  that,  at  the  time  of  the  pen- 
tecost,  there  were  dwelling  at  Jerusalem  Jeivs,  devout  men, 
out  of  every  nation  under  heaven.  Yet,  in  the  enumeration, 
which  follows  this  passage,  of  the  different  places  from  which 
those  Jews  had  come,  we  find  only  a  region  extending  from 
Italy  to  Persia,  and  from  Egypt  to  the  Black  Sea.  It  could 
have  been  a  district  of  only  about  that  size  which  Paul  meant, 
when  he  said  to  the  Colossians  that  the  gospel  ivas  preached 
to  every  creature  which  is  under  heaven.  In  the  First  Book  of 
Kings,  it  is  said  that  all  the  earth  sought  the  presence  of  Solo- 
mon, to  hear  his  wisdom ;  —  a  passage  which  requires  as  much 
limitation  as  the   others  above  quoted.     A  similar  mode  of 


UNIVERSAL    TERMS.  135 

expression  is  employed  by  Christ,  when  he  says  of  the  queen 
of  Sheba  that  she  came  from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth 
to  hear  the  icisdom  of  Solomon  ;  for  her  residence,  being 
probably  on  the  Arabian  Gulf,  could  not  have  been  more  than 
twelve  or  fourteen  hundred  miles  from  Jerusalem.  A  like 
figurative  mode  of  speech  is  employed  in  the  description  of 
Peter's  vision,  in  which  he  saw  a  great  sheet  let  down  to  the 
earth,  wherein  were  all  manner  of  four-footed  beasts  of  the 
earth,  and  wild  beasts,  and  creeping  things,  and  fowls  of  the 
air.  Who  will  suppose,  since  it  is  wholly  unnecessary  for 
the  object,  which  was  to  convince  Peter  that  the  Mosaic  dis- 
tinction into  clean  and  unclean  beasts  was  abolished,  that  he 
here  had  a  vision  of  all  the  species  of  terrestrial  vertebral 
animals  on  the  globe  ? 

It  would  be  easy  to  multiply  similar  passages.  In  many 
of  them  we  should  find  that  the  phrase  all  the  earth  signifies  the 
land  of  Palestine  ;  in  a  few,  the  Chaldean  empire  ;  and  in  one, 
that  of  Alexander  of  Macedon. 

Now,  so  similar  is  the  phraseology  of  the  passages  just 
quoted  to  that  descriptive  of  the  deluge,  so  universal  are  the 
terms,  while  we  are  sure  that  their  meaning  must  be  limited, 
that  we  are  abundantly  justified  in  considering  the  deluge  as 
limited,  if  other  parts  of  the  Bible,  or  the  facts  of  natural  his- 
tory, require  such  a  limitation.  Indeed,  so  obviously  analo- 
gous are  the  passages  quoted  to  the  Mosaic  account  of  the  del- 
uge, that  distinguished  writers  have  regarded  the  deluge  as 
limited,  long  before  geology  existed,  or  natural  history  had 
learned  the  manner  in  which  organic  life  is  distributed  on  the 
globe ;  nay,  at  a  period  when  naturalists,  with  Linnaeus  at 
their  head,  supposed  animals  and  plants  to  have  proceeded 
from  one  centre :  —  an  opinion  that  seemed  to  sustain  the  no- 
tion of  the  universality  of  the   flood.     The  inference,  then, 


136        NOACHIAN    AND   GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

that  it  was  limited,  must  have  been  made  chiefly  on  exegeti- 
cal  grounds. 

"  1  cannot  see,"  says  Bishop  Stillingfleet,  more  than  a  cen- 
tury ago,  "  any  urgent  necessity  from  the  Scripture  to  assert 
that  the  flood  did  spread  over  all  the  surfoce  of  the  earth. 
That  all  mankind,  those  in  the  ark  excepted,  were  destroyed 
by  it,  is  most  certain,  according  to  the  Scriptures.  The  flood 
was  universal  as  to  mankind  ;  but  from  thence  follows  no 
necessity  at  all  of  asserting  the  universality  of  it  as  to  the 
globe  of  the  earth,  unless  it  be  sufficiently  proved  that  the 
whole  earth  was  peopled  before  the  flood,  which  I  despair  of 
ever  seeing  proved."  —  Origines  Sacrce,  B.  III.  chap.  4,  p. 
337,  ed.  1709. 

Matthew  Poole,  well  known  for  his  valuable  and  extensive 
commentaries  on  the  Bible,  thus  expresses  himself:  "It  is 
not  to  be  supposed  that  the  entire  globe  of  the  earth  was  cov- 
ered with  water.  Where  was  the  need  of  overwhelming 
those  regions  in  which  there  were  no  human  bein2;s .?  It 
would  be  highly  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  mankind  had  so 
increased  before  the  deluge  as  to  have  penetrated  to  all  the 
corners  of  the  earth.  It  is,  indeed,  not  probable  that  they 
had  extended  themselves  beyond  the  limits  of  Syria  and 
Mesopotamia.  Absurd  it  would  be  to  affirm  that  the  effects 
of  the  punishment  inflicted  upon  men  alone  applied  to  places 
in  which  there  were  no  men.  If,  then,  we  should  entertain 
the  belief  that  not  so  much  as  the  hundredth  part  of  the  globe 
was  overspread  with  water,  still  the  deluge  would  be  univer- 
sal, because  the  extirpation  took  effect  upon  all  the  part  of 
the  globe  which  was  inhabited.  If  we  take  this  ground,  the 
difficulties  which  some  have  raised  about  the  deluge  fall  away 
as  inapplicable,  and  mere  cavils  ;  and  irreligious  persons  have 
no  reason  left  them  for  doubting  the  truth  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures." —  Synopsis  on  Gen.  vii.  19. 


OPINIONS    OF    COMMENTATORS.  137 

Poole  wrote  nearly  two  centuries  ago.  In  more  recent 
times,  we  find  authorities  equally  eminent  for  learning  and 
candor  adopting  the  same  views.  "Interpreters,"  says  Dathe, 
"  do  not  agree  whether  the  deluge  inundated  the  whole  earth, 
or  only  those  regions  then  inhabited.  I  adopt  the  latter 
opinion.  The  phrase  all  does  not  prove  the  inundation  to 
have  been  universal.  It  appears  that  in  many  places  bi  {kol) 
is  to  be  understood  as  limited  to  the  thing  or  place  spoken  of. 
Hence  all  the  animals  said  to  have  been  introduced  into  the 
ark  were  only  those  of  the  region  inundated.  So,  also,  only 
those  mountains  are  to  be  understood,  which  were  surmounted 
by  the  waters."  —  Pentaieuchus  a  Dathio^  p.  63. 

But  no  modern  writer  has  treated  this  subject  with  so  much 
candor  and  ability  —  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  his  whole 
work  on  the  "  Relation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  to  some  Parts 
of  Geological  Science"  —  as  Dr.  John  Pye  Smith.  We  can 
say  of  him,  what  we  can  say  of  very  ^e\v  men,  that  he  is  accu- 
rately acquainted  with  all  the  branches  of  the  subject.  Eminent 
as  a  theologian  and  a  philologist,  and  fully  possessed  of  all 
the  facts  in  geology  and  natural  history,  he  gives  us  his 
opinion,  not  as  a  young  man,  fond  of  novelties,  but  in  the 
full  maturity  of  judgment  and  of  years.  "  From  these  in- 
stances," says  he,  "  of  the  scriptural  idiom  in  the  application 
of  phraseology  similar  to  that  in  the  narrative  concerning  the 
flood,  I  humbly  think  that  those  terms  do  not  oblige  us  to 
understand  a  literal  universality  ;  so  that  we  are  exonerated 
from  some  otherwise  insuperable  difficulties  in  natural  his- 
tory and  geology.  If  so  much  of  the  earth  was  overflowed 
as  was  occupied  by  the  human  race,  both  the  physical  and 
the  moral  ends  of  that  awful  visitation  were  answered."  — 
Scrip,  and  Geol.  p.  214,  4th  ed. 

"  Let  us  now  take  the  seat  of  the  antediluvian  population," 
12* 


138        NOACHIAN    AND    GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

continues  Dr.  Smith,  "  to  have  been  in  Western  Asia,  in 
which  a  large  district,  even  at  the  present  day,  lies  consid- 
erably below  the  level  of  the  sea.  It  must  not  be  forgotten 
that  six  weeks  of  continued  rain  would  not  give  an  amount  of 
water  forty  times  that  which  fell  on  the  first,  or  a  subsequent 
day,  for  evaporation  would  be  continually  carrying  up  the 
water  to  be  condensed,  and  to  fall  again  ;  so  that  the  same  mass 
of  water  would  return  many  times.  If,  then,  in  addition  to 
the  tremendous  rain,  we  suppose  an  elevation  of  the  bed  of 
the  Persian  and  Indian  Seas,  or  a  subsidence  of  the  inhabited 
land  towards  the  south,  we  shall  have  sufficient  cause  in  the 
hands  of  almighty  justice  for  submerging  the  district,  cover- 
ing its  hills,  and  destroying  all  living  beings  within  its  limits, 
except  those  whom  divine  mercy  preserved  in  the  ark.  The 
drawing  off  of  the  waters  would  be  effected  by  a  return  of  the 
bed  of  the  sea  to  a  lower  level,  or  by  the  elevation  of  some 
tracts  of  land,  wbich  would  leave  channels  and  slopes  for  the 
larger  part  of  the  water  to  flow  back  into  the  Indian  Ocean, 
while  the  lower  part  remained  a  great  lake,  or  an  inland  sea, 
the  Caspian."  —  p.  217. 

It  is  a  circumstance  favoring  the  above  suggestions  of  Dr. 
Smith,  that  there  is  a  tract  of  country  ten  degrees  of  latitude 
in  breadth,  embracing  most  of  Asia  Minor,  ancient  Armenia 
and  Georgia,  and  part  of  Persia,  extending  at  least  as  far  east 
as  the  Caspian  Sea,  and  probably  much  farther,  in  which  vol- 
canic agency  has  been  in  operation  at  a  comparatively  recent 
period.  I  am  not  aware  that  we  have  evidence  of  any  erup- 
tion of  lava  in  those  regions,  within  historic  times,  except,  per- 
haps, some  mud  volcanoes  in  the  Caucasian  range.  The 
Katekekaumene,  or  Burnt  District,  of  Asia  Minor,  and  Mount 
Ararat,  probably  experienced  eruptions  at  a  date  somewhat 
earlier,  though  at  a  comparatively  recent  date.      Yet  impor- 


WHERE    DID    THE    ARK    REST?  139 

tant  changes  of  level  may  have  been  the  result  of  volcanic 
agency  in  Central  Asia,  as  recently  as  the  Noachian  deluge, 
without  leaving  any  traces  which  would  be  obvious,  without 
more  careful  observation  than  has  yet  been  made  in  those 
regions.  Especially  might  a  subsidence  of  the  surface  have 
taken  place,  and  not  have  left  any  striking  evidence  of  its 
occurrence.  Still  more  difficult  would  it  now  be  to  discover 
the  marks  of  vertical  movements  in  the  bed  of  the  Indian 
Ocean  at  the  time,  of  the  deluge. 

I  will  venture  to  add  another  suggestion.  If  the  bed  of  the 
Indian  Ocean  was  uplifted  by  volcanic  matter,  struggling  to 
get  vent,  vapor  enough  might  have  been  liberated  to  account, 
on  natural  principles,  for  the  forty  days'  rain  of  the  deluge. 
For  it  is  well  known  that  in  volcanic  eruptions  drenching 
rains  are  often  the  result  of  the  sudden  condensation  of  the 
aqueous  vapor. 

We  are  here  met,  however,  by  a  serious  objection  to  the 
hypothesis,  which  gives  only  a  limited  extent  to  the  deluge. 
If  the  present  Mount  Ararat,  in  Armenia,  is  the  mountain  on 
which  the  ark  first  rested,  a  deluge  which  covered  its  top  must, 
by  its  flux  and  reflux,  have  overspread  nearly  all  other  por- 
tions of  the  globe,  for  that  mountain  rises  seventeen  thousand 
seven  hundred  feet  above  the  ocean.  But  we  are  informed 
by  Jerome,  that  the  name  Ararat  was  given  generally  to  the 
mountains  of  Armenia;  (indeed,  that  is  the  meaning  of  the 
name  ;)  and  long  before  geology  existed,  Shuckford  suggested 
that  some  spot  farther  east  corresponds  better  with  the  scrip- 
tural account  of  the  place  where  the  ark  rested.  For  it  is  said 
of  the  families  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  that,  as  they  journeyed 
from  the  east,  they  found  a  plain  in  the  land  of  Shinar.  Now, 
Shinar,  or  Babylonia,  lies  nearly  south  of  the  Armenian  Ara- 
rat, and  the  probability,  therefore,  is,  that  the  true  Ararat,  from 


140        NOACHIAN    AND    GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

whose  vicinity  the  descendants  of  Noah  probably  emigrated, 
lay  much  farther  to  the  south.  Again,  if  the  ark  rested  upon 
the  present  Ararat,  it  is  impossible,  except  by  a  miracle,  that 
those  who  came  out  of  it  could  have  reached  the  plain  below ; 
for  so  exceedingly  difficult  of  access  is  it,  that  it  is  doubtful 
whether,  since  the  deluge,  any  one  ever  succeeded  in  reaching 
its  summit,  till  the  year  1829.  Indeed,  it  is  an  article  in  the 
creed  of  the  Armenian  church  that  its  ascent  is  impossible. 
That  the  almost  universal  tradition  of  Eastern  nations  should 
have  fixed  upon  that  mountain  as  the  resting-place  of  the  ark 
is  not  strange,  considering  that  there  is  no  mountain  in  all  Asia 
so  striking  to  behold. 

But  upon  the  whole,  the  probability  is  strong  that  some 
other  elevation,  less  lofty  and  steep,  was  the  radiating  point 
of  the  postdiluvian  races  of  man  and  other  animals.  The  fact 
of  Noah's  sending  forth  a  dove  from  the  ark,  which  came  back 
in  the  evening  with  an  olive  leaf  in  her  mouth,  strengthens 
the  preceding  view.  For  neither  upon  the  present  Ararat,  nor 
around  it,  does  the  olive  grow,  because  it  is  too  cold.  Indeed, 
all  its  upper  part  is  covered  with  perpetual  ice.  But  if  the 
Ararat  of  Scripture  lay  nearer  the  tropics,  the  olive  might 
find  upon  it  a  congenial  spot.  A  distinguished  botanist  ad- 
duced the  fact  about  the  olive  as  evidence  against  the  Bible. 
But  how  easily  refuted,  if  the  theory  now  under  examination 
be  true  ! 

In  favor  of  this  supposition,  I  might  have  urged  another 
consideration,  which,  in  my  mind,  has  no  little  weight.  It  is 
impossible  that  the  waters  of  the  deluge  should  have  covered 
the  earth  for  a  year,  without  destroying  nearly  all  the  existing 
vegetation.  Yet  nothing  is  said  of  the  preservation  of  seeds 
in  the  ark ;  and  if  they  had  been  preserved,  certainly  nothing 
but  miraculous  power,  and  that  of  the  most  remarkable  kind, 


NEW  CREATION  AT  THE  DELUGE.  141 

could  have  scattered  them  through  the  remotest  continents  and 
islands,  so  as  to  form  distinct  botanical  districts,  such  as  have 
been  described.  The  olive,  from  which  a  leaf  was  plucked 
by  the  dove  sent  out  of  the  ark,  was  probably  situated  upon 
elevated  ground,  and  where  it  remained  but  a  short  time  be- 
neath the  waters,  and  therefore  did  not  lose  its  vitality. 

It  is  probable  that  the  theory  which  makes  the  deluge  lim- 
ited in  extent  will  meet  with  more  favor  than  any  other,  with 
candid  and  intelligent  men,  to  meet  the  suggested  difficulties 
of  the  case.  But  some,  who  are  unwilling  to  abandon  the 
idea  of  the  universality  of  the  deluge,  avoid  these  difficulties 
by  supposing  a  new  creation  to  have  taken  place  at  that  epoch. 
That  such  a  new  creation  occurred  at  the  commencement  of 
several  geological  periods  can  hardly  admit  a  doubt.  And  a 
presumption  is  hence  derived  in  favor  of  a  similar  act  at  the 
beginning  of  the  postdiluvian  period,  preceded  as  it  was,  like 
the  other  geological  periods,  by  an  almost  entire  destruction 
of  organic  life. 

The  principal  objection  to  this  view  is,  that  no  notice  is 
taken  of  such  a  new  creation  in  the  Bible.  And  it  would  seem 
that  an  event  of  so  much  importance  would  hardly  be  passed 
in  silence  ;  and  yet  the  bringing  into  existence  new  races  of 
the  inferior  animals  and  plants  could  have  but  little  bearing 
upon  the  object  of  revelation,  which  respects  almost  exclu- 
sively the  spiritual  condition  of  man.  One,  however,  can 
hardly  see  why  pairs  and  septuples  of  the  animals,  even  in  a 
limited  district,  need  to  have  been  preserved  in  the  ark,  if  a 
new  creation  were  to  follow  the  coming  catastrophe  ;  nor  why 
the  creation  of  the  antediluvian  animals,  so  soon  to  perish, 
should  have  been  so  particularly  described,  while  no  notice 
was  taken  of  the  postdiluvian  races,  which  were  to  occupy 
the  earth  so  much  longer  time. 


142        NOACHIAN    AND    GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMPARED. 

A  third  theory  has  been  suggested  by  some,  embracing  both 
those  which  have  been  described.  They  admit  the  deluge  to 
have  been  of  limited  extent,  but  suppose  this  limitation  not 
to  be  sufficient  to  explain  all  the  facts  of  revelation  and  of 
science,  without  a  new  creation  also,  at  the  commencement 
of  the  postdiluvian  period.  They  suppose,  indeed,  that  geol- 
ogy and  natural  history  teach  the  occasional  extinction  of  spe- 
cies, and  the  creation  of  others,  even  in  our  own  times.  And 
in  regard  to  this  latter  view,  it  may  at  least  be  said  that  it  is 
not  contradicted  by  the  Bible.  Nay,  one  would  almost  sup- 
pose that  the  Psalmist  were  describing  such  a  state  of  things 
when  he  says,  Thou  Iddest  thy  face;  they  [animals]  are 
troubled.  Thou  takest  away  their  breath ;  they  die  and  re- 
turn to  their  dust.  Thou  sendest  forth  thy  spirit ;  they  are 
created ;  and  thou  renewest  the  face  of  the  earth.  The  re- 
semblance between  this  language  and  that  employed  to  de- 
scribe the  original  creation  is  striking.  Indeed,  the  same  word 
(bawraw)  is  used. 

Without  attempting  to  decide  which  of  these  theories  has 
the  highest  claim  upon  our  belief,  it  is  sufficient  to  remark, 
that  either  of  them  reconciles  the  facts  of  geology  and  natural 
history  with  the  inspired  record  ;  nor  does  the  adoption  of 
either  of  them  require  us  to  put  a  forced  and  unnatural  con- 
struction upon  the  language  of  the  Bible.  Even  then,  if  we 
should  admit  that  a  construction  agreeing  with  these  theories 
is  not  the  most  natural  meaning,  yet  if  the  facts  of  natural 
history  unequivocally  require  such  an  interpretation  to  har- 
monize the  Bible  with  nature,  it  is  assuredly  one  of  those 
cases  where  science  must  be  allowed  to  modify  our  exegesis 
of  Scripture.  In  the  view  of  sound  philosophy,  such  mod- 
ification at  once  disarms  scepticism  of  its  cavils. 

With  two  remarks  of  a  practical  character,  I  close  the  dis- 
cussion of  this  subject. 


A    SALUTARY    LESSON.  143 

First.  The  history  of  opinions  respecting  the  Noachian 
deluge  furnishes  a  salutary  lesson  to  those  employed  in  the 
examination  of  analogous  subjects.  We  have  seen  these  opin- 
ions assume  almost  every  possible  shape  ;  yet,  until  recently 
they  have  all  been  maintained  with  the  most  positive  and 
dogmatic  assurance  ;  and  each  particular  theory  has  been 
regarded  as  involving  the  essence  of  the  Bible,  as  being  the 
articulus  stantis  vel  cadentis  ecclesice,  and  whoever  denied  it 
virtually  denied  the  Bible.  But  all  reasonable  and  truly  sci- 
entific men  are  fast  coming  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  deluge 
has  had  very  litde  to  do  with  the  present  configuration  of  the 
globe,  and  that  it  is  doubtful  whether  any  trace  of  its  occur- 
rence will  ever  be  found  in  nature  ;  so  that,  on  the  one  hand, 
all  the  alarms  and  denunciations  of  misguided  Christians  on 
this  subject  might  have  been  spared  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
if  the  hasty  exultation  of  the  infidel,  in  his  supposed  discovery 
of  discrepancy  between  nature  and  Moses,  had  been  sup- 
pressed until  the  subject  was  understood,  he  would  not  have 
experienced  the  mortification  of  entire  defeat. 

It  is,  indeed,  very  humiliating  to  human  nature  to  find  so 
many  of  the  wise,  the  talented,  and  the  religious  so  confident 
and  zealous,  yet  so  erroneous.  But  it  is  a  salutary  lesson. 
It  shows  us  the  vast  importance  of  being  thoroughly  ac- 
quainted with  a  subject  before  we  dogmatize  upon  it.  It 
should  not,  indeed,  discourage  us,  and  produce  a  universal 
scepticism  on  all  subjects  not  admitting  a  mathematical  dem- 
onstration ;  but  it  should  make  us  cautious  in  examining 
the  grounds  of  our  conclusions,  and  modest  in  maintaining 
them. 

Secondly.  It  is  interesting  to  observe  how,  amid  all  the 
diversities  and  fluctuations  of  opinion  on  this  subject,  the  Bible 
has  remained  unaffected. 


144       NOACHIAN    AND    GEOLOGICAL    DELUGES    COMrARED. 

The  infidel  felt  confident  that  the  arrows  which  he  drew 
from  this  quiver  would  certainly  pierce  Christianhy  to  the 
heart.  But  they  rebounded  from  her  adamantine  breastplate, 
blunted  and  broken  ;  and  no  one  will  have  the  courage  to 
pick  them  up  and  hurl  them  again.  The  physico-theological 
school  at  one  time  felt  certain,  that  no  other  theory  but  an  en- 
tire dissolution  of  the  crust  of  the  globe  at  the  deluge,  could 
possibly  be  made  consistent  with  the  Bible.  More  recently, 
it  has  been  supposed  equally  necessary,  to  reconcile  geology 
and  revelation,  that  we  should  admit  the  antediluvian  conti- 
nents to  have  sunk  beneath  the  ocean  at  that  time.  Still 
later,  it  has  been  thought  quite  certain  that  the  surface  of  the 
earth  bore  the  most  striking  marks  of  a  universal  deluge, 
probably  identical  with  that  of  Scripture.  At  length,  the 
extreme  opinion  is  now  generally  reached,  that  no  trace  of 
the  deluge  of  Noah  remains.  And  equally  wide  and  well 
established  is  the  belief  that,  amid  all  these  fluctuations  of 
theory,  the  Bible  has  stood  as  an  immovable  rock  amid  the 
conflicting  waves.  The  final  result  is,  that  we  have  only 
slightly  to  modify  the  interpretation  of  the  Mosaic  account,  in 
conformity  with  the  laws  of  language,  to  make  it  entirely 
consistent  with  the  notion  that  all  traces  of  the  deluge  have 
disappeared.  Thus,  in  the  midst  of  human  opinions,  veering 
to  every  point  of  the  compass,  the  Bible  has  ever  remained 
fixed  to  one  point.  Not  so  with  false  systems  of  religion. 
The  Hindoo  religion  contains  a  false  astronomy,  as  well  as 
anatomy  and  physiology  ;  and  the  Mohammedan  Koran  dis- 
tinctly advances  the  Ptolemaic  hypothesis  of  the  universe ; 
so  that  you  have  only  to  prove  these  religions  false  in  science 
in  order  to  destroy  their  claim  to  infallibility.  But  the  Bible, 
stating  only  facts,  does  not  interfere  with,  neither  is  affected 
by,  the   hypotheses   of    philosophy.     Often,  indeed,   in  past 


THE    BIBLE    UNAFFECTED.  145 

ages,  have  men  set  up  their  hypotheses  as  oracles  in  the 
temple  of  nature,  to  be  consulted  rather  than  the  Bible.  But, 
like  Dagon  before  the  ark,  they  have  fallen  to  the  earth,  and 
been  broken  in  pieces  before  the  Word  of  God  ;  while  this 
has  ever  stood  and  ever  shall  stand,  in  sublime  simplicity  and 
undecaying  strength,  amid  the  wrecks  of  every  false  system 
of  philosophy  and  religion. 
13 


(146) 


LECTURE    V. 

THE  WORLD'S   SUPPOSED    ETERNITY. 

In  our  attempts  thus  far  to  elucidate  the  religion  of  geology, 
our  attention  has  been  directed  to  those  points  where  this 
science  has  been  supposed  to  conflict  with  revelation  ;  and  I 
trust  it  has  been  made  manifest  that  the  collision  was  rather 
with  the  interpretation  than  with  the  meaning  of  Scripture  ; 
and  that,  in  fact,  geology,  instead  of  coming  into  collision 
with  the  Bible,  affords  us  important  aid  in  understanding  it 
aright.  We  now  advance  to  a  part  of  the  subject  which  has 
a  more  direct  bearing  upon  natural  religion.  And  here,  if  I 
mistake  not,  we  shall  find  the  illustration  of  religious  truth 
from  this  science,  as  we  might  expect,  more  direct  and 
palpable. 

The  subject  to  which  I  wish  first  to  call  your  attention  is 
the  world's  eternity,  or  the  eternal  existence  of  matter.  This 
was  the  universal  belief  of  the  philosophers  of  antiquity,  and, 
indeed,  of  most  reasoning  minds  where  the  Bible  has  not 
been  known.  The  grand  argument  by  which  this  opinion 
was  sustained  is  the  well-known  ex  nihiJo  nihil  fit^  (nothing 
produces  nothing.)  Hence  men  inferred  that  not  even  the 
Deity  could  create  matter  out  of  nothing;  and,  therefore,  it 
must  be  eternal.  Most  of  the  ancient  philosophers,  however, 
did  not  hence  infer  the  non-existence  of  the  Deity.  But  they 
endeavored  to  reconcile  the  existence  of  eternal  matter  with 
an  eternal  Spirit.    They  supposed  both  to  be  self-existent  and 


PANTHEISM.  147 

coexistent.  From  this  rational  thinking  principle  they  ^5up- 
posed  all  good  to  be  derived  ;  while  from  the  material  irra- 
tional principle  all  evil  sprung.  Plato  taught  that  God,  of  his 
own  will,  united  himself  with  matter,  although  he  did  not 
create  it,  and  out  of  it  produced  the  present  world  ;  so  that 
it  was  proper  to  speak  of  the  world  as  created,  although  the 
matter  was  from  eternity.  Aristotle  and  Zeno  taught  that 
God's  union  with  matter  was  necessary ;  and  hence  they  con- 
sidered the  world  eternal.  In  the  opinion  of  Epicurus,  God 
was  entirely  separated  from  matter,  which  consisted  of  innu- 
merable atoms,  floating  about  from  eternity,  like  dust  in  the 
air,  until  at  last  they  assumed  the   present  form  of  the  world. 

In  modern  times,  the  belief  in  the  eternity  of  matter  has 
usually  been  connected  with,  or  made  the  basis  of,  a  refined 
and  popular  system  of  atheism.  I  refer  to  the  pantheism  of 
Spinoza.  He  maintains  that  there  exists  in  the  universe  but 
one  substance,  variously  modified,  whose  two  principal  attri- 
butes are  infinite  extension  and  infinite  intelligence.  This 
substance,  the  to  nav  of  Spinoza,  he  regarded  as  God  ;  and 
hence  his  system  is  called  Pantheism.  Under  various  modifi- 
cations, it  has  been  adopted  by  many  sceptical  minds,  and  is, 
undoubtedly,  the  most  common  and  plausible  system  of 
atheism  extant.  Other  modern  writers,  among  whom  may  be 
mentioned  that  anomalous  philosopher  Bayle,  have  advocated 
the  views  of  the  ancients  respecting  the  eternity  of  matter. 

It  may  seem  strange,  but  it  is  true,  that  some  Christian  phi- 
losophers and  divines  have  been,  in  ancient  and  modern  times, 
the  advocates  of  the  eternity  of  matter.  The  ancient  Christians 
adopted  it  from  Plato.  Thus  we  find  Justin  Martyr  maintain- 
ing that  God  formed  the  world  from  an  eternal,  unorganized 
material.  And  the  schoolmen,  who  followed  Aristotle,  taught 
that  "  God  had  created  the  world  from  eternity."     On  this 


148  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

ground,  even  some  Protestant  theologians  have  asserted  that 
it  was  absurd  to  speak  of  an  eternal  God  who  is  not  an  eter- 
nal Creator. 

A  principle  which  has  thus  been  adopted  by  so  many- 
acute  minds  unenlightened  by  revelation,  and  by  some 
who  possessed  that  divine  testimony,  must  be  sustained  by 
some  plausible  arguments.  The  principal  one  relied  on  is, 
that  the  changes  which  are  going  on  in  the  material  world 
are  proved  to  be  only  transmutations,  which  follow  one 
another  in  series  that  return  into  themselves,  and  which  may, 
therefore,  have  been  going  on  from  eternity  ;  and  if  this  be 
admitted,  it  is  as  easy  to  suppose  matter  to  be  self-sustained, 
and  to  have  fallen  into  its  present  order  of  itself,  as  to  sup- 
pose the  interference  of  an  infinite  Spirit.  "  How  do  we 
know,"  says  Dr.  Chalmers,  in  stating  the  atheistic  argument, 
"  that  the  world  is  a  consequent  at  all  ?  Is  there  any  greater 
absurdity  in  supposing  it  to  have  existed,  as  it  now  is,  at  any 
specified  point  of  time,  throughout  the  millions  of  ages  that  are 
past,  than  that  it  should  so  exist  at  this  moment  ?  Does  what 
we  suppose  might  have  been  then,  imply  any  greater  absurdi- 
ty, than  what  we  actually  see  to  be  at  present  ?  Now,  might 
not  the  same  question  be  carried  back  to  any  point  or  period 
of  duration,  however  remote  ?  or,  in  other  words,  might  we 
not  dispense  with  a  beginning  for  the  world  altogether  ?  " 
''  For  aught  we  can  know  a  priori^''''  says  Hume,  "  matter 
may  contain  the  source  or  spring  of  order  originally  within 
itself  as  well  as  mind  does  ;  and  there  is  no  more  diffi- 
culty in  conceiving  that  the  several  elements,  from  an  inter- 
nal, unknown  cause,  may  fall  into  the  most  exquisite  arrange- 
ment, than  to  conceive  that  their  ideas,  in  the  great  universal 
mind,  from  a  like  internal  cause,  fall  into  that  arrangement. 
If  this  material  world  rests  upon  a  similar  ideal  world,  this 


DR.  Chalmers's  views.  149 

ideal  world  must  rest  upon  some  other,  and  so  on  without  end. 
It  were  better,  therefore,  never  to  look  beyond  the  present 
material  world.  By  supposing  it  to  contain  the  principle  of 
its  order  within  itself,  we  really  assert  it  to  be  God  ;  and  the 
sooner  we  arrive  at  that  divine  Being,  so  much  the  better." 

Now,  in  what  manner  have  these  ingenious  arguments 
been  met  ?  Until  quite  recently,  no  one  has  supposed  that 
any  light  on  this  subject  could  be  derived  from  geology.  In- 
deed, even  now,  by  many,  that  science  is  regarded  as  favoring 
the  idea  of  the  world's  eternity.  Neither  has  it  been  thought 
that,  on  a  question  of  natural  theology,  like  this,  it  was  proper 
to  appeal  to  the  Bible.  Philosophers  and  divines,  however, 
have  attempted  to  reply  to  these  arguments,  irrespective  of 
geology  and  revelation  ;  and  they  have  generally  convinced 
themselves  that  they  have  been  successful.  But  to  my  mind, 
1  must  confess,  this  has  always  appeared  the  weakest  spot  in 
natural  religion.  Some  of  the  arguments  to  prove  the  world 
not  eternal  do,  indeed,  appear,  at  first  statement,  very  pro- 
found ;  but  they  rather  silence  than  convince  ;  and  the  longer 
we  reflect  upon  them,  the  more  apt  are  we  to  doubt  their  force. 

And  here  I  am  constrained  to  bear  testimony  to  the  mas- 
terly manner  in  which  this  subject  has  been  treated  by  Dr. 
Chalmers.  Perceiving  that  the  defences  of  natural  reli- 
gion on  this  subject  were  weak,  in  spite  of  much  show 
of  strength,  he  has  laid  out  his  giant  force  of  intellect  in 
clearing  away  the  rubbish  and  building  a  rampart  of  rock. 
His  remarkable  skill  in  seizing  upon  and  bringing  out  promi- 
nently the  great  principles  of  a  difficult  subject,  and  turning 
them  round  and  round  till  they  fill  every  eye,  is  here  most 
happily  exerted. 

Let  us  now  proceed,  in  the  first  place,  to  examine  the  argu- 
ments that  have  been  adduced  to  prove  the  non-eternity  of 
13* 


150  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

the  world,  independent  of  geology  and  revelation  ;  and  in  the 
second  place,  to  derive  from  these  two  sources  of  evidence 
the  true  ground  on  which  that  proposition  rests. 

The  first  supposed  proof  that  the  world  has  not  eternally 
existed  is  derived  from  what  is  called  the  a  priori  argument 
for  the  existence  of  the  Deity,  originally  proposed  by  the 
monk  Anselmus,  and  afterwards  more  fully  illustrated  in 
England  by  Dr.  Samuel  Clarke.  Take  the  following  brief 
summary  of  this  argument,  as -applied  to  the  eternity  of  mat- 
ter, in  the  words  of  Dr.  Crombie. 

"  Whatever  has  existed  from  eternity,  independent  and 
without  any  external  cause,  must  be  self-existent.  Whatever 
is  self-existent  must  exist  necessarily,  by  an  absolute  neces- 
sity in  the  nature  of  the  thing.  This  is  also  self-evident. 
It  follows,  therefore,  that  unless  the  material  world  exist 
necessarily,  by  an  absolute  necessity  in  its  own  nature,  so 
that  it  must  be  a  contradiction  to  suppose  it  not  to  exist,  it 
cannot  be  independent  and  eternal.  In  order  to  disprove  this 
absolute  necessity,  he  [Dr.  Clarke]  reasoned  thus  :  If  matter 
be  supposed  to  exist  necessarily,  then  in  that  necessary  exist- 
ence is  included  the  power  of  gravitation,  or  it  is  not.  If  not, 
then  in  a  world  merely  material,  and  in  which  no  intelligent 
being  presides,  there  never  could  have  been  any  motion. 
But  if  the  power  of  gravitation  be  included  in  the  pretended 
necessary  existence  of  matter,  then  it  follows  necessarily,  that 
there  must  be  a  vacuum  ;  it  follows,  likewise,  that  matter  is 
not  a  necessary  being.  For  if  a  vacuum  actually  be,  then  it 
is  plainly  more  than  possible  for  matter  not  to  be." 

Is  it  not  passing  strange  that  such  a  dreamy  argumentation 
as  this  —  and  it  is  a  fair  sample  of  Dr.  Clarke's  extended 
work  on  the  existence  of  the  Deity  —  should  have  been  re- 
garded as  sound  logic  by  many  of  the  acutest  minds,  and  that 


THE    A    PRIORI    ARGUMENT.  151 

a  majority  even  of  the  ablest  metaphysicians,  up  ahuost  to  the 
present  day,  should  have  felt  satisfied  with  it  ?  A  few  minds, 
indeed,  long  ago  perceived  its  fallacy,  among  whom  was 
Alexander  Pope,  who  thus  sarcastically  describes  it :  — 

"  Be  that  my  task,  replies  a  gloomy  Clarke, 
Sworn  foe  to  mystery,  yet  divinely  dark. 
Let  others  creep  by  timid  steps  and  slow, 
On  plain  experience  lay  foundation  low, 
By  common  sense  to  common  notions  bred, 
And  last  to  nature's  cause  through  nature  led, 
All- seeing  in  thy  mists,  we  need  no  guide, 
Mother  of  arrogance,  and  source  of  pride  ! 
"We  nobly  take  the  high  priori  road, 
And  reason  downward  till  we  doubt  of  God." 

Dunciad,  Book  IV. 

It  is  impossible,  on  this  occasion,  to  go  into  a  formal  refuta- 
tion of  this  famous  argument.  But  this  is  unnecessary  ;  since, 
as  Dr.  Chalmers  says,  it  "  has  fallen  into  utter  disesteem  and 
desuetude."  Indeed,  the  language  of  Dr.  Thomas  Brown  on 
this  subject  is  not  too  severe,  when  he  says,  that  he  "  con- 
ceives the  abstract  arguments  that  have  been  adduced  to  show 
that  it  is  impossible  for  matter  to  have  existed  from  eternity, 
by  reasoning  on  what  has  been  termed  necessary  existence, 
and  the  incompatibility  of  this  necessary  existence  with  the 
qualities  of  matter,  to  be  relics  of  the  mere  verbal  logic  of 
the  schools,  as  little  capable  of  producing  conviction  as  any 
of  the  wildest  and  most  absurd  of  the  technical  scholastic  rea- 
sonings on  the  properties,  or  supposed  properties,  of  entity  and 
nonentity." 

In  the  second  place,  it  has  been  argued  with  much  apparent 
plausibility,  by  Dr.  Paley,  that  wherever  we  find  a  compli- 
cated organic  structure,  adapted  to  produce  beneficial  results, 


152  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

its  origin  must  be  sought  beyond  itself;  and  since  the  world 
abounds  with  such  organisms,  it  cannot  be  eternal ;  that  is,  the 
mere  existence  of  animals  and  plants  proves  their  non-eternity. 

Now,  without  asserting  that  there  is  no  force  in  this  argument, 
I  have  two  remarks  to  make  upon  it.  The  first  is,  to  quote  the 
reply  to  it,  which  such  a  writer  as  David  Hume  has  given,  in 
language  which  I  have  just  repeated.  "  For  aught  we  can  know 
a  priori^''''  says  he,  "  matter  may  contain  the  source  or  spring 
of  order  originally  within  itself,  as  well  as  mind  does  ;  and 
there  is  no  more  difficulty  in  conceiving  that  the  several  ele- 
ments, from  an  internal  unknown  cause,  may  fall  into  the 
most  exquisite  arrangement,  than  to  conceive  that  their  ideas 
in  the  great  universal  mind,  from  a  like  internal  unknown 
cause,  fall  into  that  arrangement.  To  say  that  the  different 
ideas,  which  compose  the  reason  of  the  Supreme,  fall  into 
order  of  themselves,  and  by  their  own  nature,  is  really  to  talk 
without  any  precise  meaning.  If  it  has  a  meaning,  1  would 
fain  know  why  it  is  not  as  good  sense  to  say,  that  the  parts  of 
the  material  world  fall  into  order  of  themselves  and  by  their 
own  nature.  Can  the  one  opinion  be  intelligible  while  the 
other  is  not  so  ?  " 

Fairly  to  meet  this  reasoning  of  the  prince  of  sceptics  is 
not  an  achievement  of  dulness  or  ignorance.  In  order  to  do 
it  triumphantly,  we  want,  what  Dr.  Paley  could  not  find,  a 
distinct  example  of  the  creation  of  numerous  organic  beings 
by  some  cause  independent  of  themselves.  I  say,  he  could 
not  find  such  an  example  ;  for  on  a  question  of  natural  the- 
ology, he  did  not  think  it  proper  to  appeal  to  the  Bible  ;  nor 
had  geology,  when  he  wrote,  revealed  her  astonishing  record 
on  this  subject.  But  as  it  is  now  developed,  it  puts  an  end  to 
all  controversy  as  to  the  origin  of  the  organic  world. 

My  second  remark,  however,  on  this  argument  is,  that  even 


SIR    JOHN    HERSCHEL's    ARGUMENT.  153 

admitting  its  correctness,  it  only  proves  the  connnnencement 
of  organic  natures,  but  does  not  show  that  the  matter  of  which 
they  are  composed  may  not  have  been  eternal. 

In  the  third  place,  an  argument  against  the  eternal  exist- 
ence of  matter  has  been  derived  by  Sir  John  Herschel,  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  natural  philosophers  of  the  day,  from 
the  atomic  constitution  of  bodies,  as  made  known  to  us  by 
chemistry.  This  science  makes  it  certainly  probable,  that 
even  the  infinitesimal  particles  of  matter  have  a  definite  and 
peculiar  shape,  and  size,  and  weight,  in  each  of  the  elements. 
"  Now,"  says  this  writer,  "  when  we  see  a  great  number  of 
things  precisely  alike,  we  do  not  believe  this  similarity  to  have 
originated,  except  from  a  common  principle  independent  of 
them."  "  The  discoveries  alluded  to  efTectually  destroy  the 
idea  of  an  external  self-existent  matter,  by  giving  to  each  of 
its  atoms  the  essential  characters  at  once  of  a  manufactured 
article  and  a  subordinate  agent." 

To  this  argument  the  atheist's  reply  would  be  essentially 
the  same  as  that  last  considered ;  and  in  one  respect  it  would 
even  be  more  forcible,  because  the  atomic  constitution  of 
bodies,  being  less  complex,  is  less  obviously  the  result  of  for- 
eign agency,  and  may  more  easily  be  regarded  as  the  neces- 
sary property  of  eternal  matter.  On  the  other  hand,  how- 
ever, it  is  more  obviously  an  attribute  of  the  original  constitu- 
tion of  matter  than  organic  structure  ;  and  if  it  does  require 
an  independent  agency  for  its  production,  it  seems  difficult  to 
conceive  of  the  existence  of  matter  in  a  previous  state.  So 
that,  in  this  point  of  view,  this  argument  is  more  forcible  than 
the  last ;  and  it  is  no  small  evidence  that  it  has  real  strength, 
that  it  comes  to  us  from  one  of  the  most  acute  and  impartial 
minds  in  Europe. 

In  the  fourth  place,  it  is  maintained  that  the  idea  of  an 


154  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

eternal  succession,  or  chain  of  being,  which  the  atheistic  advo- 
cates of  the  world's  eternity  defend,  is  highly  absurd,  and  even 
mathematically  false. 

The  atheist  mainly  relies  upon  this  notion  of  an  eternal 
series  of  things  ;  for  if  he  can  defend  that  opinion,  he  will 
overturn  the  main  argument  of  the  Theist  for  the  divine  exist- 
ence, viz.,  that  from  design  in  the  works  of  creation.  On 
this  ground,  therefore,  he  should  be  fairly  met.  Has  he  been 
so  met  by  the  reasoning  that  has  usually  been  employed  to 
refute  his  opinion  ?  As  a  fair  sample  of  it,  I  will  here  quote 
the  leading  points  of  the  argument,  as  given  by  one  of  the  most 
popular  and  able  theologians  of  our  country.  "  It  is  asserted 
by  atheists,"  says  Dr.  Dwight,  "  that  there  has  been  an  eternal 
series  of  things.  The  absurdity  of  this  assertion  may  be  shown 
in  many  ways. 

"  First.  Each  individual  in  a  series  is  a  unit.  But  every 
collection  of  units,  however  great,  is  with  intuitive  certainty 
numerable,  and,  therefore,  cannot  be  infinite." 

"  Secondly.  Every  individual  in  the  series  (take  for  example 
a  series  of  men)  had  a  beginning.  But  a  collection  of  beings 
must,  however  long  the  series,  have  had  a  beginning.  This, 
likewise,  is  intuitively  evident." 

'*  Thirdly.  It  is  justly  observed  by  the  learned  and  acute  Dr. 
Bentley,  that  in  the  supposed  infinite  series,  as  the  number  of 
individual  men  is  alleged  to  be  infinite,  the  number  of  their 
eyes  must  have  been  twice,  the  number  of  their  fingers  ten 
times,  and  the  number  of  the  hairs  on  their  heads  many  thou- 
sand times,  as  great  as  the  number  of  men." 

"  Fourthly.  It  is  also  observed  by  the  same  excellent  writer, 
that  all  these  generations  of  men  were  once  present."  — 
DwigWs  Theology,  vol.  ii.  p.  24. 

How  is  it  possible  that  such  reasoning  should  have  satisfied 


MR.  tkacy's  argument.  155 

logical  and  philosophical  minds  ?  Would  it  not  be  equally 
good  to  disprove  the  demonstrated  principles  of  mathematics 
which  relate  to  infinite  quantities  ?  For  in  mathematics  an 
infinite  series  of  units  is  a  familiar  phrase;  and  it  is  also  com- 
mon to  speak  of  one  infinite  quantity  as  twice,  or  ten  times, 
or  many  thousand  times,  greater  than  another,  and  that,  too, 
in  just  such  cases  as  the  one  referred  to  above. 

True,  mathematical  infinites  are  in  some  respects  different 
from  metaphysical  infinites ;  but  it  is  the  former  that  belong 
to  this  argument,  since  the  supposed  infinite  succession  of 
organic  beings  forms  a  mathematical  series. 

An  acute  writer  in  our  own  country,  however,  has  recently 
attempted  to  show  that  "  there  can  be  no  number  actually 
infinite,  and  therefore  no  infinite  number  of  generations."  * 
That  the  mathematician  cannot  actually  present  before  us  the 
whole  of  an  infinite  series,  is  indeed  most  certain  ;  for  such 
power  belongs  only  to  an  Infinite  Being.  But  does  the  fact 
that  man's  faculties  are  limited,  prove  that  an  arithmetical 
process  cannot  be  carried  on  from  eternity  to  eternity  ?  Be- 
cause man  cannot  put  upon  paper  the  series  of  numbers  rep- 
resenting the  miles  in  infinite  space,  or  the  hours  in  infinite 
duration,  is  there,  therefore,  no  such  thing  as  infinite  space, 
or  infinite  duration  ?  Certainly  not,  if  this  reasoning  be 
correct. 

In  spite,  however,  of  such  mathematical  metaphysics,  is  it 
not  an  intelligible  statement  of  the  atheist,  when  he  says  of 
any  generation  of  men  and  animals  in  past  time,  that  there 
was  another  that  preceded  it ;  and  unless  you  have  matter-of- 
fact  proof  to  the  contrary,  how  will  you  disprove  his  asser- 
tion ?      You   may  show  him    that   practically  he  can  never 

*  Rev.  Joseph  Tracy,  Bibliotheca  Sacra,  Oct.  1850,  p.  614. 


156  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

exhibit  a  series,  even  of  numbers,  extending  eternally  back- 
ward ;  but  he  may,  in  return,  challenge  you  to  put  your  finger 
upon  the  first  link  of  the  chain  of  organic  nature.  If  you 
attempt  it,  he  will  reply  that  other  links  preceded  the  one  you 
have  named,  and  that,  as  far  as  you  choose  to  run  backward, 
he  can  go  farther ;  in  other  words,  by  the  very  supposition 
which  he  makes,  he  excludes  a  beginning  to  organic  nature, 
and,  therefore,  all  reasoning  which  assumes  such  a  beginning 
is  of  no  force  against  his  conclusions.  If  a  series  which 
may  thus  be  extended  indefinitely  backward  be  not  infinite 
in  a  metaphysical  sense,  it  is  to  common  sense. 

Let  me  not  be  thought  to  be  an  advocate  in  any  sense  for 
the  unsupported  notion  of  an  infinite  series  of  organic  beings. 
But  the  question  is,  whether  those  who,  in  spite  of  common 
sense,  have  maintained  this  opinion,  have  been  fairly  refuted 
by  such  metaphysical  evasions  as  I  have  quoted.  The  truth 
is,  that,  in  order  to  end  this  dispute,  the  Theist  needs  to  bring 
forward  at  least  one  example  in  which  the  commencement 
of  some  race  of  animals  can  be  fairly  pointed  out ;  and  I 
know  not  where  such  an  example  can  be  found,  save  in  the 
Bible  and  geology. 

In  the  fifth  place,  the  changing  state  of  the  world  has  been 
regarded  as  incompatible  with  the  world's  eternity.  This 
argument  is  thus  stated  by  Bishop  Sumner :  "  If  the  universe 
itself  is  the  first  eternal  being,  its  existence  is  necessary,  as 
metaphysicians  speak  ;  and  it  must  be  possessed  of  all  those 
qualities  which  are  inseparable  from  necessary  existence. 
Of  this  nature  are  immutability  and  perfection.  For  change 
is  the  attribute  of  imperfection,  and  imperfection  is  incompat- 
ible with  that  Being,  which  is,  as  the  hypothesis  affirms,  inde- 
pendent, and,  therefore,  can  have  no  source  of  imperfection. 
To  suppose,  therefore,  of  the  first  independent  Being,  that  it 


MUTABILITY    OF    THE    WORLD.  157 

could  have  existed  otherwise  than  it  is,  is  no  less  contrary  to 
the  idea  of  necessity,  with  which  we  set  out,  than  to  suppose 
it  not  to  exist  at  all." 

This  reasoning  is  not  destitute  of  plausibility.  For  there 
is  scarcely  any  lesson  more  forcibly  impressed  on  short-lived 
man  than  the  mutability  of  the  world.  And  it  is  indeed  true 
that  change  is  its  most  striking  attribute.  But  when  we  look 
at  the  subject  philosophically,  we  find  that  all  this  mutability 
is  consistent  with  the  most  perfect  ultimate  stability ;  nay, 
that  the  change  is  essential  to  secure  the  stability.  Apart 
from  what  revelation  and  geology  teach,  these  changes  in 
nature  form  cycles,  which,  like  those  in  astronomy,  are  per- 
fectly consistent  with  the  eternal  permanence  of  the  general 
system  to  which  they  belong.  In  the  motions  of  the  heaven- 
ly bodies,  a  considerable  amount  of  irregularity  and  oscilla- 
tion about  a  mean  state  does  not  tend  to  the  ruin,  but  rather  to 
the  preservation,  of  the  system,  provided  the  anomalies  do  not 
extend  beyond  certain  limits.  It  is  just  so  with  other  changes 
that  are  going  on  around  us.  All  of  them  are,  in  fact,  as 
much  regulated  by  mathematical  laws  as  the  perturbations  of 
the  heavenly  bodies ;  although  those  law^  are  more  compli- 
cated and  difficult  to  bring  out  in  distinct  formulae  in  the  for- 
mer case  than  in  the  latter.  Yet  even  in  astronomy,  it  is  not 
many  years  since  the  mutual  disturbances  among  the  heav- 
enly bodies  were  supposed  to  be  the  certain  precursors  of 
ruin  to  the  system.  It  was  not  till  the  famous  problem  of 
the  three  bodies  was  solved,  by  the  use  of  the  most  refined 
mathematical  analysis,  that  astronomers  learnt  the  true  opera- 
tion of  those  causes  of  disturbance  among  the  heavenly  bod- 
ies which  exist  in  their  mutual  attractions.  It  was  then  found 
that,  so  balanced  are  they  in  their  action,  and  so  narrow  their 
limits,  that  they  can  never  affect  the  stability  of  the  system ; 
14 


158  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

or,  rather,  they  secure  that  stability.  It  is,  indeed,  true,  that 
when  changes  in  nature  go  on  increasing  or  decreasing  in 
magnitude  indefinitely,  they  clearly  indicate  a  beginning  and 
an  end  to  the  system  to  which  they  belong.  And  it  was 
on  this  principle  that  the  earlier  astronomers  predicted  that 
the  celestial  perturbations  would  ultimately  bring  the  universe 
to  a  state  of  chaos.  They  found,  for  instance,  that  the  moon's 
orbit  was  decreasing  in  size,  and  they  inferred  that,  ultimate- 
ly, that  luminary  must  come  to  the  earth.  But  they  now 
know  it  to  be  mathematically  certain  that,  after  a  long  period, 
the  diminution  of  the  orbit  will  cease ;  it  will  begin  to  expand, 
and  go  on  expanding,  until  the  opposite  point  of  oscillation 
is  reached,  when  it  will  again  diminish ;  and  in  this  n>anner, 
if  God's  will  permit,  perform  its  eternal  round.  Just  so  it  is 
with  all  the  irregularities  of  the  solar  system. 

**  Yonder  stany  spheie 
Of  planets,  and  of  fixed,  in  all  her  wheels. 
Resembles  nearest  mazes  intricate, 
Eccentric^  intervolved,  yet  regular  ; 
Then  most,  when  most  irregular  they  seem."" 

And  so  it  is  with  all  the  natural  changes  which  we  witness 
around  us,  and  with  all  which  science  shows  us  to  have  taken 
place  OK  the  globe,  excepting  some  which  geology  discloses, 
and  perhaps  one  which  astronomy  renders  probable.  Let  us 
look  at  some  of  those  changes  which  the  argument  under 
consideration  regards  as  inconsistent  with  the  world's  eternity. 

Nearly  all  the  changes  in  nature  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted belong  to  three  classes,  —  the  mechanical,  the  chem- 
ical, and  the  oi^anic.  Astronomical  changes  are  purely 
mechanical ;  and  hence  the  ease  with  which  they  may  be  cal- 
culated  by  mathematics.      The   universal   system  of  deaths 


ANTAGONIST    AGENCIES.  159 

which  I'eigns  over  all  animals  and  plants,  is  the  result  of 
organic  laws ;  and  it  is  this  which  probably  gives  to  man  the 
strongest  impression  of  the  transient  nature  of  sublunary- 
things.  But  just  consider  the  antagonist  agencies  to  this  uni- 
versal destroyer.  I  refer  to  the  equally  universal  system  of 
reproduction,  and  to  the  law  by  which  permanence  of  species 
is  secured-  The  consequence  is,  that,  while  every  individual 
animal  and  plant  dies,  the  species  survives.  In  the  whole 
history  of  the  animals  and  plants  now  existing  on  the  globe, 
only  eight  or  ten  certain  examples  are  on  record  in  which  a 
species  has  become  extinct,  and  those  are  some  large  birds, 
such  as  the  dinornis  and  dodo,  once  inhabitants  of  the  Isle 
of  Bourbon  and  New  Zealand.  Every  one  of  the  human 
family,  every  elephant,  every  ox,  every  lion,  &c.,  die,  but 
man,  as  a  species,  still  lives;  and  so  does  the  elephant,  the  ox, 
and  the  lion ;  and  most  obviously  this  is  a  law  of  nature. 
How  easy,  then,  for  the  atheist  to  evade  the  force  of  your 
argument  against  the  world's  eternity,  drawn  from  the  rav- 
ages of  death !  He  has  only  to  suppose  the  havoc  of  indi- 
viduals by  death  always  to  have  been  repaired  by  the  equiva- 
lent operation  of  reproduction,  and  that  these  two  agencies 
have  been  balanced  against  each  other  from  eternity ;  and 
how  will  you  prove  this  impossible,  except  by  the  absurd 
metaphysical  arguments  already  considered  .? 

Atmospheric  and  aqueous  changes  often,  and,  indeed,  gen- 
erally, appear  more  chaotic  and  destitute  of  a  controlling 
force  than  any  others  in  nature.  When  the  winds  are  let 
loose  from  their  prison-house ;  when  the  heavens  become 
dark,  and  the  clouds,  rent  by  the  lightnings,  pour  down  their 
contents,  and  the  swollen  torrents  carry  desolation  down  the 
mountain's  side  and  over  the  wide  plain  ;  when  the  ocean 
rolls  in  upon  the  land  its  giant  waves;  when  the  tornado 
sweeps  all   before   it,  in  rich  tropical  regions ;  or  when  the 


160  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

sirocco  sends  its  hot  blast,  loaded  with  sand,  over  the  devoted 
surface,  —  in  all  these  cases,  how  difficult  for  us  to  conceive 
that  all  this  uproar  among  the  elements  is  limited  and  con- 
trolled by  laws  as  fixed  and  unalterable  as  those  which  regu- 
late the  heavenly  bodies  !  Nevertheless,  it  must  be  so ;  and 
although  the  winds  and  the  watere  seem  to  be  rioting 
at  their  pleasure,  there  are,  in  fact,  at  work  antagonist 
agencies,  which  will  confine  their  wild  war  to  a  narrow  field, 
and  soon  bring  them  again  into  peaceful  submission.  For 
such  has  always  been  the  case»  and  the  limits  of  their  irreg- 
ularities are  no  wider  now  than  six  thousand  years  ago.  In 
other  words,  the  repressing  agency  has  always  been  superior 
to  the  destroying  force,  when  the  latter  has  risen  to  a  certain 
limit ;  and  1  doubt  not  but  the  profounder  mathematics  of 
angelic  minds  might  as  easily  calculate  the  anomalies  and 
perturbations  of  winds  and  waves  as  the  formulas  of  La  Place 
can  determine  those  of  the  solar  system.  And  if  such 
constancy  has  existed  for  six  thousand  years  in  meteorological 
changes,  —  of  all  others  in  nature  apparently  the  most  irreg- 
ular,—  why,  the  atheist  will  ask,  may  not  that  constancy 
have  been  eternal  ?  And  with  equal  reason  may  he  ask  the 
same  in  respect  to  all  changes  resulting  from  mechanical, 
chemical,  and  organic  laws,  which  we  witness  in  nature,  ex- 
cept those  which  come  within  the  province  of  geology,  and 
even  concerning  some  of  those  ;  and  what  changes  in  the 
material  world  do  not  result,  directly  or  remotely,  from  one 
or  two,  or  all  of  these  laws  ?  Yet,  in  regard  to  all  these 
changes,  there  is  no  inconsistency  in  supposing  them  to  have 
gone  on  in  an  eternal  series ;  and  hence  they  furnish  no 
proof  of  the  non-eternity  of  the  world. 

In  the  seventh  and  last  place,  the  recent  origin  of  society, 
as  shown  by  historical  monuments,  is  regarded  as  evidence 
of  the  recent  origin  of  the  world.     This  argument  was  well 


RECENT    ORIGIN    OF    SOCIETY.  161 

understood  as  long  ago  as  the  days  of  Lucretius,  who  stales 
it  very  clearly  in  the  oft-quoted  lines,  — 

"  Si  nulla  fuit  genitalis  origo, 
Terrarum  et  coeli,  semperque  eterna  fmt, 
Cur,  supra  bellum  Thebanum  et  funera  Trojae, 
Non  alias  aKi  quoque  res  ceeinere  poetae  ?  " 

This  argument,  though  it  has  been  met  by  a  plausible 
reply,  is  certainly  of  great  importance  in  its  bearing  upon  the 
recent  origin  of  the  human  race,  which,  as  we  shall  shortly 
see,  is  a  point  of  much  interest.  But  it  is  obvious  that  it 
proves  nothing  respecting  the  origin  of  matter,  suice  this 
might  have  had  an  eternal  existence  before  man  was  placed 
upon  it.  We  need  not,  therefore,  be  delayed  by  its  dis- 
cussion. 

Such  is  a  fair  summary,  as  I  believe,  of  the  arguments 
usually  adduced,  aside  from  the  Bible  and  geology,  to  prove 
the  non-eternity  of  the  world.  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that 
they  amount  to  nothing ;  but  I  do  believe  that  they  perplex, 
rather  than  convince,  and  that  some  of  them  are  mere  meta- 
physical quibbles. 

They  do  not  produce  that  instantaneous  conviction  which 
most  of  the  arguments  of  natural  theology  force  upon  the 
mind  ;  and  it  is  easy  to  see  how  a  man  of  a  sceptical  turn 
should  rise  from  their  examination  entirely  unaffected,  or 
affected  unfavorably.  Let  us  now,  therefore,  turn  to  geology, 
and  inquire  whether  its  archives  will  afford  us  any  clearer 
light  upon  the  subject. 

And  here  we  must  confess,  at  the  outset,  that  geology  fur- 
nishes us  no  more  evidence  than  the  other  sciences  of  the 
creation  of  the  matter  of  the  universe  out  of  nothing.  But  it 
does  furnish  us  with  examples  of  such  modifications  of  matter 
14* 


163  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

as  could  be  effected  only  by  a  Deity.  Suppose,  then,  we 
should  be  obliged  to  acknowledge  to  the  atheist,  that  we  yield 
to  him  the  point  of  matter's  eternal  existence,  if  he  pleases, 
because  we  can  find  nowhere  in  nature  decisive  evidence  of 
its  creation,  and  then  take  our  stand  upon  the  arrangements 
and  metamorphoses  of  matter.  Or,  rather,  suppose  we  say  to 
him,  that  we  shall  not  contend  with  him  as  to  the  origin  of 
matter,  but  challenge  him  to  explain,  if  he  can,  without  a 
Deity,  its  modifications,  as  taught  by  geology.  If  that  sci- 
ence does  disclose  to  us  such  changes  on  the  globe  as  no 
power  and  wisdom  but  those  of  an  infinite  God  could  produce, 
then  of  what  consequence  is  it,  so  far  as  religion  is  concerned, 
whether  we  can,  or  cannot,  demonstrate  the  first  creation  of 
matter .''  I  can  conceive  of  no  religious  truth  that  would  be 
unfavorably  affected,  though  we  should  admit  that  this  point 
cannot  be  settled.  Let  us,  then,  at  least  for  the  sake  of  argu- 
ment, admit  that  it  cannot  be,  and  proceed  to  inquire  whether, 
aside  from  this  point,  geology  does  not  teach  us  all  that  is 
necessary  to  establish  the  most  perfect  system  of  Theism.  I 
shall  select  four  examples  from  that  science,  each  of  which 
is  independent  of  the  others  in  its  bearing  upon  the  subject, 
since  in  this  way  the  argument  will  become  cumulative  ;  and 
if  some  are  not  satisfied  with  one  example,  the  othei^s  may 
produce  conviction. 

In  the  first  place,  geology  teaches  that  the  time  has  been 
when  the  earth  existed  as  a  molten  mass  of  matter,  and,  there- 
fore, all  the  animals  and  plants  now  existing  upon  its  surface, 
and  all  those  buried  in  its  rocky  strata,  must  have  had  a  be- 
ginning, or  have  been  created.  I  should  be  sustained  by  many 
probabilities,  were  I  to  go  farther,  and  maintain  that  the  time 
was  when  the  globe  existed  in  a  gaseous  state  —  an  opinion 
very  widely  adopted  by  able  philosophers  of  the  present  day. 


ALL    ROCKS    ONCE    MELTED.  163 

But  as  this  view  is  more  hypothetical  than  my  first  position, 
which  mal<es  the  earth  a  liquid  mass,  and  as  nothing  would 
be  gained  to  the  argument  by  supposing  it  in  a  gaseous  state, 
I  shall  not  press  that  point.  That  it  was  once  in  a  state  of 
fusion  is  probable  from  the  very  great  heat  still  remaining  in 
its  interior.  But  more  direct  proof  of  this  results  from  the 
facts,  now  admitted  by  almost  all  geologists,  that  the  unstrati- 
fied  rocks  have  all  been  melted,  and  that  the  stratified  class 
have  all,  or  nearly  all,  been  the  result  of  disintegration  and 
abrasion  of  the  unstratified  masses.  A  striking  confirmation  of 
this  opinion  is  the  spheroidal  figure  of  the  earth,  —  a  figure 
precisely  such  as  the  globe  would  have  assumed  in  conse- 
quence of  rotation,  had  it  been  in  a  fluid  state.  In  fine,  so 
many  and  so  decisive  are  the  facts  which  point  to  the  original 
igneous  fluidity  of  the  globe,  that  no  competent  judge  thinks 
of  doubting  that  all  the  matter  of  which  it  is  composed,  cer- 
tainly its  crust,  has  some  time  or  other  been  in  that  state.  It 
is,  however,  the  opinion  of  some  geologists  of  distinction,  that 
the  whole  of  it  was  not  in  fusion  at  the  same  time,  and  that  its 
different  portions  have  passed  successively  through  the  fur- 
nace. But  this  view  of  the  subject  scarcely  affects  my  argu- 
ment, since  at  whatever  period  the  fusion  of  any  part  took 
place,  the  destruction  of  organic  life,  if  it  existed,  must  have 
been  the  consequence.  The  essential  thing  is,  to  show  that 
such  was  once  the  state  of  the  earth  that  animals  and  plants 
could  not  have  existed  on  it.  For  if  such  was  the  case,  their 
creation  must  have  been  a  subsequent  operation  ;  and  if  this 
did  not  require  an  infinite  Being  to  accomplish  it,  no  result 
in  nature  would  demand  his  agency. 

To  prove  the  original  igneous  fluidity  of  the  globe,  we  might 
have  adopted  another  course  of  argument.  All  will  admit 
that  the  present  temperature  of  the  interior  of  the  earth  is  far 


164  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

more  elevated  than  that  of  the  surrounding  planetary  spaces. 
The  inevitable  result  is,  from  the  known  laws  of  heat,  that  its 
radiation  into  the  celestial  spaces  is  constantly  going  on,  and 
consequently  the  earth's  temperature  is  being  constantly  low- 
ered. Who  can  tell  us  now  when  this  process  of  refrigera- 
tion commenced  ?  If  no  one,  then  there  must  have  been  a 
time  when  the  heat  was  great  enough  to  fuse  the  whole  globe. 
And  the  facts  already  stated  confirm  such  an  inference.  For 
all  the  efforts  hitherto  made  to  show  that  the  earth  may  be 
passing  through  regions  of  various  temperatures,  in  its  march 
around  the  centre  of  centres,  amount  to  nothing  more  than 
dreamy  conjecture. 

In  order  to  feel  the  force  of  the  argument,  sustained  by  so 
many  facts  in  geology,  just  picture  to  yourselves  this  vast 
globe  as  a  mass  of  liquid  fire.  From  such  a  world  every  thing 
organic  must  have  been  excluded,  and  every  thing  combus- 
tible consumed,  and  only  such  combinations  of  matter  have 
existed  as  incandescent  heat  could  not  decompose.  Compare 
such  a  world  with  that  now  teeming  whh  life,  and  beauty,  and 
glory,  which  we  inhabit ;  and  say,  must  not  the  transition  to 
its  present  condition  have  demanded  the  exercise  of  infinite 
power,  infinite  wisdom,  and  infinite  benevolence  .''  You  can, 
indeed,  conceive  how  a  solid  crust  might  have  formed  over 
the  vast  fiery  ocean,  by  the  simple  radiation  of  heat ;  and  then, 
too,  by  natural  laws,  might  the  vapors  have  been  condensed 
into  oceans  and  clouds,  while  volcanic  force  within  might 
have  lifted  up  our  continents  and  mountains  above  the  flood. 
But  what  a  picture  of  desolation  and  ruin  would  such  a  world 
present,  while  unadorned  with  vegetation,  and  with  no  voice 
of  life  to  break  the  stillness  of  universal  death !  Here  is,  then, 
the  precise  point  where  we  need  the  interference  of  a  Deity. 
Admit,  if  you  please,  that  atheism,  with  its  eternal  matter  and 


ECONOMIES    OF    LIFE.  165 

the  laws  of  nature  at  command,  might  form  a  world  without 
inhabitants.  Who  does  not  see,  that  to  bestow  organization, 
and  life,  and  instinct,  to  say  nothing  of  intellect,  upon  brute 
matter,  is  the  loftiest  prerogative  of  Jehovah  r  especially  to 
fill  so  vast  a  world  as  ours  with  its  teeming  millions,  exhibit- 
ing ten  thousand  diversities  of  size,  form,  and  structure. 

Let  the  atheist  then  exult  in  the  belief  of  an  eternal  world. 
Geology  shows  him  that  it  must  have  been  without  inhabitants; 
and  that,  therefore,  the  most  wonderful  part  of  the  creation  still 
remains  to  be  accounted  for  ;  while  physiology  teaches  that  the 
interference  of  an  infinite  Deity  can  alone  solve  the  enigma. 

My  second  example  from  geology  to  disprove  the  notion  of 
an  eternal  series  of  animals  and  plants  on  the  globe,  is  de- 
rived from  the  history  of  organic  remains.  That  history  shows 
us  clearly,  that  the  earth,  since  its  creation,  has  been  the  seat 
of  several  distinct  economies  of  life,  each  occupying  long 
periods,  and  successively  passing  away.  During  each  of  these 
periods,  distinct  groups  of  animals  and  plants  have  occupied 
the  earth,  the  air,  and  the  waters.  Each  successive  group  has 
been  entirely  distinct  from  that  which  preceded  it,  though  each 
group  was  exactly  adapted  to  the  existing  state  of  the  climate 
and  the  food  provided  ;  so  that,  had  the  different  groups 
changed  places  with  one  another,  they  must  have  perished, 
because  their  constitutions  were  adapted  only  to  the  state  of 
things  during  the  period  in  which  they  actually  lived.  A  dis- 
tinguished naturalist  has  recently  declared  that  "  he  has  dis- 
covered, in  surveying  the  entire  series  of  fossil  animal  remains, 
five  great  groups,  so  completely  independent  that  no  species 
whatever  is  found  in  more  than  one  of  them."  —  Deshayes. 

Including  the  existing  races,  this  would  give  us  six  entirely 
distinct  groups  of  organic  beings  that  have  lived  in  succession 
upon  this  globe  since  it  became  a  habitable  world.     But  even 


166  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

if  it  should  be  found  that  a  few  species  are  common  to  ad- 
joining groups,  the  great  truth  would  still  remain,  that  the 
different  groups  were  too  much  unlike  to  be  contemporaries, 
and  that  consequently  a  new  creation  must  have  taken  place 
whenever  each  new  group  commenced  its  course. 

It  is  probable  the  earth  has  changed  its  inhabitants  more 
.than  the  six  times  that  have  been  mentioned  ;  some  think  as 
many  as  twelve  times.  But  a  larger  number  cannot  yet  be 
proved  so  clearly ;  and  could  they  be,  they  would  add  nothing 
to  this  argument ;  for  it  rests  mainly  on  the  fact  that  this 
change  of  organic  life  has  even  once  been  complete.  We 
may,  however,  very  safely  assume  that  the  present  animals 
and  plants  are  the  sixth  group  that  have  occupied  the  globe.*' 

These  facts  being  admitted,  and  who  does  not  see  the  neces- 
sity of  divine  interference,  whenever  one  race  of  animals  and 
plants  passed  from  the  earth  in  order  to  repeople  it  ?  It  is  not 
difficult  to  conceive  how  volcanic  fires,  or  aqueous  inunda- 
tions, may  have  carried  universal  destruction  over  the  globe, 
and  bereft  it  of  inhabitants.  But  where,  save  in  the  fiat  of 
an  infinite  Deity,  is  the  power  that  can  make  this  universe  of 
death  teem  again  with  life  and  beauty  ?  In  the  powerful  lan- 
guage of  Dr.  Chalmers,  we  may  inquire,  "  Is  there  aught  in 
the  rude  and  boisterous  play  of  a  great  physical  catastrophe 
that  can  germinate  those  exquisite  structures,  which,  during 
our  yet  undisturbed  economy,  have  been  transmitted  in  pacific 
succession  to  the  present  day  ?  What  is  there  in  the  rush, 
and  turbulence,  and  mighty  clamor  of  such  great  elements,  of 
ocean  heaved  fr.om  its  old  resting-place,  and  lifting  its  billows 
above  the  Alps  and  the  Andes  of  a  former  continent,  —  what 
is  there  in  this  to  charm  into  being  the  embryo  of  an  infant 
family,  wherewhh  to  stock  and  to  repeople  a  now  desolate 

*  See  the  Frontispiece. 


NEW    SYSTEMS    OUT    OF    OLD    ONES.  167 

world  ?  We  see  in  the  sweeping  energy  and  uproar  of  this 
elemental  war  enough  to  account  for  the  disappearance  of 
all  the  old  generations,  but  nothing  that  might  cradle  any 
new  generations  into  existence,  so  as  to  have  effloresced  on 
ocean's  deserted  bed  the  life  and  loveliness  which  are  now 
before  our  eyes.  At  no  juncture,  we  apprehend,  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  world,  is  the  interposition  of  the  Deity  more  mani- 
fest than  at  this  ;  nor  can  we  better  account  for  so  goodly  a 
creation  emerging  again  into  new  forms  of  animation  and 
beauty  from  the  wreck  of  the  old  one,  than  that  the  spirit  of 
God  moved  on  the  face  of  chaos,  and  that  nature,  turned  by 
the  last  catastrophe  into  a  wilderness,  was  again  repeopled 
at  the  utterance  of  his  word." 

Sir  Isaac  Newton  has  said,  that  "  the  growth  of  new  sys- 
tems out  of  old  ones,  without  the  mediation  of  a  divine  power, 
seems  to  me  apparently  absurd."  He  seems  in  this  passage 
to  have  referred  only  to  the  arrangements  of  matter,  "  with 
respect  to  size,  figure,  pi*oportions,  and  properties,"  and  not 
to  the  principle  of  life,  of  instinct,  or  of  intellect.  But  when 
the  latter  are  taken  into  the  account,  it  must  be  superlatively 
absurd  to  suppose  new  systems  can  grow  out  of  old  ones  by 
merely  natural  operations.  He,  indeed,  who  can  bring  him- 
self to  believe,  with  a  certain  writer,  that  "  the  instincts  of  ani- 
mals are  nothing  more  than  inert  and  passive  attractions,  de- 
rived from  the  power  of  sensation,  and  the  instinctive  opera- 
tions of  animals  nothing  more  than  crystallizations  produced 
through  the  agency  of  that  power,"  —  such  a  man  could  prob- 
ably easily  persuade  himself  that,  by  the  help  of  galvanism, 
animals  and  plants  might  be  the  result  of  natural  operations. 
Such  doctrines,  however,  we  shall  examine  in  another  lecture. 

My  third  example  from  geology,  showing  the  non-eternity 
of  the  present  condition  of  the  globe,  is  the  fact  of  the  disap- 


168  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

pearance  of  several  large  species  of  animals  since  the  com- 
mencement of  the  most  recent  or  alluvial  geological  period. 
Certain  large  pachydermatous  and  other  animals,  such  as  the 
fossil  elephant,  the  mastodon,  the  megatherium,  the  mylodon, 
the  megalonyx,  the  glyptodon,  the  fossil  horse,  ox,  deer,  &c., 
also  nine  or  ten  species  of  huge  birds  —  the  dinornis,  the 
palapteryx,  aptornis,  notornis,  and  nestor  of  New  Zealand, 
the  dodo  of  Mauritius  and  Bourbon,  and  the  pezohaps  or 
solitaire  of  Rodriguez,  —  have  ceased  to  exist  since  the  tertiary 
period;  some  of  them  —  the  birds,  for  instance  —  since 
man's  creation.  Now,  if  any  important  species  of  animals 
from  time  to  time  disappear  from  any  system  of  organic  life, 
it  shows  a  tendency  to  ruin  in  that  system  ;  for  such  is  the 
intimate  dependence  of  different  beings  upon  one  another, 
that  you  cannot  blot  out  one,  certainly  not  a  large  number, 
without  disturbing  the  healthy  balance  between  the  whole, 
and  probably  bringing  the  whole  to  ultimate  ruin.  At  any 
rate,  if  several  species  die  out  by  natural  processes,  no  reason 
can  be  given  why  others  should  not,  in  like  manner,  dis- 
appear. And  to  prove  that  any  organic  system  shows  a 
tendency  to  ruin  is  to  show  that  it  had  a  beginning. 

My  ^*tfd  example  from  geology,  demonstrating  the  special 
interference  of  the  Deity  in  the  affairs  of  this  world,  is  the 
fact  of  the  comparatively  recent  commencement  of  the  human 
race.  That  man  was  among  the  very  last  of  the  animals 
created  is  made  certain  by  the  fact  that  his  remains  are  found 
only  in  the  highest  part  of  alluvium.  This  is  rarely  more 
than  one  hundred  feet  in  thickness,  while  the  other  fossilifer- 
ous  strata,  lying  beneath  the  alluvium,  are  six  miles  thick. 

Hence  man  was  not  in  existence  during  all  the  period  in 
which  these  six  miles  of  strata  were  in  a  course  of  deposition, 
and  he  has  existed  only  during  the  comparatively  short  period 


MAN    RECENTLY    CREATED.  169 

in  which  the  one  hundred  feet  of  alluvium  have  been  formed; 
nay,  during  only  a  small  part  of  the  alluvial  period.  His 
bones,  having  the  same  chemical  composition  as  the  bones  of 
other  animals,  are  no  more  liable  to  decay  ;  and,  therefore, 
had  he  lived  and  died  in  any  of  the  periods  preceding  the 
alluvial,  his  bones  must  have  been  mixed  with  those  of  other 
animals  belonging  to  those  periods.  But  they  are  not  thus 
found  in  a  single  well-authenticated  instance,  and,  therefore, 
his  existence  has  been  limited  to  the  alluvial  period.  Hence 
he  must  have  been  created  and  placed  upon  the  globe  — 
such  is  the  testimony  of  geology  —  during  the  latter  part  of 
the  alluvial  period. 

I  might  include  in  this  example  nearly  all  the  other  species 
of  existing  animals  and  plants,  since  it  is  only  a  very  few  of 
these  that  are  found  fossil,  and  such  species  are  limited  to 
the  tertiary  strata.  But  since  this  might  make  some  confu- 
sion in  the  argument,  and  since  man  is  confessedly  at  the 
head  of  the  existing  creation,  I  prefer  to  let  his  case  stand 
out  alone,  and  to  regard  it  instar  omnium. 

Here,  then,  we  have  a  case  in  which  geology  can  lay  her 
finger  upon  the  precise  epoch,  in  the  revolutions  of  our  globe, 
in  which  the  most  complicated,  perfect,  and  exalted  being 
that  ever  dwelt  upon  its  surface  first  began  to  be.  It  was  not 
the  commencement  of  a  mere  zoophyte,  or  cryptogamean 
plant,  in  which  we  see  but  little  superiority  to  unorganized 
matter,  except  in  their  possession  of  a  low  degree  of  vitality. 
But  we  have  a  being  complicated  enough  to  contain  a  million 
of  parts,  endowed  with  the  two  great  attributes  of  life,  sensi- 
bility and  contractility,  in  the  highest  degree,  and,  above  all, 
possessing  intellect  and  moral  powers  far  more  wonderful 
than  organization  and  animal  life. 

As  to  the  period  when  the  creation  of  such  a  being,  by  the 
15 


170  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

most  astonishing  of  all  miracles,  took  place,  I  believe  there  is 
no  diversity  of  opinion.  At  least,  all  agree  that  it  was  very 
recent;  nay,  although  geology  can  rarely  give  chronological 
dates,  but  only  a  succession  of  events,  she  is  able  to  say, 
from  the  monuments  she  deciphers,  that  man  cannot  have 
occupied  the  globe  more  than  six  thousand  years. 

Now,  if  it  was  difficult  to  conceive  how  successive  races 
of  the  inferior  animals  and  plants  could  have  originated  in 
the  laws  of  nature,  without  the  special  interference  of  the 
Deity,  that  difficulty  increases  in  a  rapid  ratio  as  we  ascend 
on  the  scale  of  organization  and  intellect,  and  attempt  in  the 
same  manner  to  account  for  the  origin  of  man  wiihout  the 
miraculous  agency  of  Deity.  The  thorough-going  material- 
ist, however,  does  not  shrink  from  the  effort.  "  Thought," 
says  Bory  de  St.  Vincent,  "-  being  the  necessary  result  of 
a  certain  kind  of  organization,  wherever  this  order  is  estab- 
lished, thought  is  necessarily  derived  from  it;  and  it  is  no 
more  possible  for  the  molecules  of  matter,  arranged  in  a 
certain  manner,  not  to  produce  thougjit,  than  for  brass,  when 
smitten,  not  to  return  a  sound,  or  for  creatures  formed  by  this 
matter,  after  such  and  such  lav/s,  not  to  walk,  not  to  breathe, 
not  to  reproduce  ;  in  a  word,  not  to  exercise  any  of  the  facul- 
ties which  result  from  their  peculiar  mechanism  of  organiza- 
tion." —  Diet.  Clas.  D.  Hist.  Nat.  art.  Maiiere. 

This  may  seem,  upon  a  superficial  view,  to  be  setding  this 
matter  at  once.  But  it  merely  shifts  the  difficulty  from  one 
part  of  the  subject  to  another.  Admitting  the  premises  of 
the  materialist  to  be  correct,  it  does  indeed  show  us  the  prox- 
imate cause  of  thought.  But  the  mind  immediately  inquires 
how  a  certain  organization  became  possessed  of  such  won- 
derful power.  Is  it  inherent  in  matter,  or  is  it  a  power  com- 
municated   to  organization   by  a  supreme  Being  ^      If   the 


man's  creation  miraculous.  171 

latter,  it  is  just  what  the  Theist  contends  for ;  if  the  former, 
then  there  is  just  as  much  necessity  for  the  original  interposi- 
tion of  the  Deity,  in  order  to  give  matter  such  an  astonishing 
power,  as  there  is,  on  the  theory  of  the  immaterialist,  to 
impart  a  spiritual  and  immortal  principle  to  matter.  The 
materialist  will,  indeed,  say  that  matter  has  possessed  this 
power  from  eternity.  But  this  supposition,  evidently  absurd, 
does  in  fact  invest  matter  with  the  attributes  of  Deity  ;  since 
those  attributes,  and  those  alone,  are  sufficient  to  account  for 
the  phenomena.  And  besides,  how  is  the  fact  to  be  explained 
that  this  power  was  not  exerted  till  six  thousand  years  ago  ? 

But  with  the  exception  of  the  materialist,  I  am  sure  that 
most  reasoning  minds  will  feel  as  if  the  creation  of  the  hu- 
man family  was  one  of  the  most  stupendous,  perhaps  the 
most  stupendous,  exercise  of  infinite  power  and  wisdom 
which  the  universe  exhibits.  If  any  change  whatever  de- 
mands a  Deity  for  its  accomplishment,  it  must  be  this ;  and, 
therefore,  geology  presents,  in  the  case  of  man,  the  most 
striking  example  which  nature  could  furnish  of  a  beginning 
of  organic  and  intellectual  life  on  the  globe.  It  sliows  us  that 
there  was  a  time,  and  that  not  remote,  when  the  first  link  of 
the  curious  chain  of  the  human  family,  nov/  constantly 
lengthening  by  inflexible  laws,  was  created. 

I  might  now  refer  to  certain  recent  discoveries  in  astrono- 
my, which  have  the  same  bearing  upon  the  general  argument 
as  the  examples  that  have  been  quoted  from  geology,  although 
less  decisive.  After  the  famous  demonstration  of  the  eternity 
of  the  universe  by  La  Grange,  provided  the  present  laws  of 
gravity  alone  control  it,  we  could  hardly  expect  that,  so  soon, 
even  astronomy  would  furnish  proof  of  a  disturbing  cause, 
which  must  ultimately  and  inevitably  bring  ruin  among  the 
heavenly  bodies,  if  some  counteracting  agency  be  not  exerted. 


172  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

Yet  such  a  source  of  derangement  exists  in  the  supposed 
medium  extending  through  all  space,  which  has  already 
shown  its  retarding  influence  upon  Enke's,  Biela's,  and  Hal- 
ley's  comets.  And  who  can  say  that  some  of  the  vast  peri- 
ods which  geology  discloses  may  not  have  been  commensurate 
with  those  intervening  between  catastrophes  among  the  heav- 
enly bodies  as  the  result  of  the  universal  resisting  ether  ? 
At  present,  however,  we  can  say  only  that  we  know  such 
long  periods  have  existed  in  geology,  and  probably  in  astron- 
omy. And  their  mere  existence  is  fatal  to  the  idea  of  the 
eternity  of  the  world  in  its  present  state. 

If,  then,  geology  can  clearly  demonstrate  the  present  state 
of  the  globe  to  have  had  a  beginning ;  if  she  can  show  us 
the  period,  by  fair  induction,  when  one  liquid,  fiery  ocean 
enveloped  the  whole  earth ;  if  she  can  show  us  five  or  six 
economies  of  organic  life  successively  flourishing  and  passing 
away  ;  if  she  can  trace  man  back  to  his  origin  at  a  com- 
paratively recent  date ;  if,  in  fact,  she  can  show  us  that 
the  most  important  operations  on  the  globe,  and  the  most 
complicated  and  exalted  organic  races,  had  a  beginning ; 
and  if  astronomy  aflbrds  glimpses  of  similar  changes,  — 
then  why  may  we  not  safely  leave  the  subject  of  the  world's 
eternity  an  undecided  question,  consistently  with  the  most 
perfect  Theism  ?  If  we  can  prove  that  the  power,  the  wis- 
dom, and  the  benevolence  of  the  Deity  have  again  and  again 
interfered  with  the  regular  sequence  of  nature's  operations, 
and  introduced  new  conditions  and  new  and  more  perfect 
beings,  by  using  the  matter  already  in  existence,  what  though 
we  cannot,  by  the  light  of  science,  run  back  to  the  first  pro- 
duction of  matter  itself?  What  though  the  atheist  should 
here  be  allowed  to  maintain  his  favorite  theory  that  matter 
never  had  a  beginnins  ?     What  doctrine  of  natural  religion 


CREATION    OF    MATTER.  173 

is  thereby  unfavorably  affected,  if  we  can  only  show  the 
interposition  of  the  Deity  in  all  of  matter's  important  modifi- 
cations ?  Such  an  admission  would  not  prove  matter  to  be 
eternal,  but  only  that  science  has  not  yet  placed  within  the 
reach  of  man  the  means  of  proving  its  non-eternity.  And 
really,  such  an  admission  would  be  far  more  favorable  to  the 
cause  of  truth  than  to  rely,  as  theologians  have  done,  on 
metaphysical  subtilties  to  prove  that  matter  had  a  beginning. 
For  the  sceptical  mind  will  not  merely  remain  unconvinced 
by  such  arguments,  but  be  very  apt  to  draw  the  sweeping 
inference  that  all  the  doctrines  of  natural  and  revealed  reli- 
gion rest  on  similar  dreamy  abstractions. 

But  is  natural  theology  in  fact  destitute  of  all  satisfactory 
proof  that  the  matter  of  the  universe  had  a  beginning  ?  Such 
proof,  it  seems  to  me,  she  will  seek  in  vain  in  the  wide  fields 
of  physical  and  mathematical  science  ;  and  the  solution  of 
the  question  which  metaphysics  offers,  as  we  have  seen,  does 
not  satisfy.  But  there  are  sources  of  evidence  on  this  point 
which  seem  to  me  of  the  most  satisfactory  kind. 

In  the  first  place,  we  may  derive  from  science  some  pre- 
sumptive proof  of  a  commencement  of  the  matter  of  the 
universe.  The  fact  that  the  organic  races  on  the  globe  had 
a  beginning  affords  such  proof.  For  matter  could  not  have 
originated  itself;  nor  is  there  any  proof  of  its  eternal  existence ; 
and  to  assume  that  it  did  eternally  exist,  without  proof,  is  far 
more  unphilosophical  than  to  admit  its  origination  in  the  divine 
will.  For  since  God  has  complete  control  over  matter,  it  is 
probable  that  he  created  it  with  such  properties  as  he  wished 
it  to  possess.  And  furthermore,  to  the  power  and  wisdom 
that  could  set  in  motion  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  create  and 
adapt  existing  organisms  out  of  preexistent  matter,  we  can 
assign  no  limits,  and  hence  conclude  them  to  be  infinite. 
15* 


174  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

Therefore  they  are  sufficient  to  the  production  of  matter, 
which  could  not  have  demanded  more  than  infinite  wisdom 
and  power. 

Now,  in  confirmation  of  these  presumptions,  we  may  appeal 
to  the  Bible.  It  is  true  that  writers  have  been  accustomed 
to  consider  it  contrary  to  sound  logic  to  draw  from  revela- 
tion any  support  or  illustrations  of  natural  religion.  But  why 
should  an  historical  fact  possess  less  value,  if  transmitted  to  us 
through  the  channel  of  sacred,  rather  than  profane,  writers  ? 
Now,  it  would  be  regarded  as  perfectly  good  reasoning  to 
seize  upon  any  facts  stated  by  heathen  philosophei^s  and  his- 
torians, illustrative  of  natural  religion.  But  the  Scriptures 
carry  with  them,  to  say  the  least,  quite  as  strong  evidence  of 
their  authenticity  and  claims  to  be  credited,  as  any  ancient 
uninspired  writer.  We  place  them  on  the  same  ground  as 
any  other  history,  and  demand  for  them  only  that  they  should 
be  believed  so  far  as  we  have  testimony  to  their  authenticity. 
If  a  man,  after  careful  examination  of  their  evidences,  comes 
to  the  conclusion  that  they  are  mere  fables,  then  to  him  their 
testimony  is  of  no  value  to  prove  or  illustrate  any  truth  of 
natural  religion.  But  if  he  is  convinced  that  they  are  worthy 
of  credence,  then  their  statements  may  decide  a  point  about 
which  the  light  of  nature  leaves  him  in  uncertainty.  In  this 
way  the  Bible  is  used  by  the  natural  theologian,  just  as  he 
would  employ  any  curious  object  in  nature  —  say,  the  human 
hand,  or  the  eye.  These  organs  exist,  and  their  mechanism 
is  to  be  accounted  for  either  with  or  without  a  God.  And  so 
the  Bible  exists,  and  its  contents  are  to  be  accounted  for  ;  and 
if  they  clearly  evince  the  agency  of  a  Deity,  then  we  may  use 
them,  just  as  we  would  use  the  eye  or  the  hand,  to  prove  or 
illustrate  important  truths  in  natural  theology. 

But  the    testimony  of  the   Bible,  as  to  the  origin  of  the 


SCRIPTUKE    TESTIMONY.  175 

world,  is  most  explicit  and  decided.  It  declares  that  m  the 
beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth ;  and  that 
the  worlds  loere  formed  hy  the  word  of  God^  so  that  the  things 
which  are  seen  were  not  made  of  things  which  do  appear. 
The  obvious  meaning  of  this  latter  passage  is,  that  the  mate- 
rial universe  was  created  out  of  nothing.  (r«  ixij  cpaivofxeva.^ 
How  much  more  satisfactory  this  simple  and  consistent  state- 
ment, than  a  volume  of  abstract  argument  to  prove  the  non- 
eternity  of  the  world  ! 

Now,  if  the  testimony  of  the  Scriptures  on  all  other  points 
has  been  found  correct,  why  should  we  not  receive  with  un- 
hesitating credence,  and  even  with  joy,  the  sublime  announce- 
ment with  which  that  volume  opens  ?  True,  we  are  not  com- 
pelled to  admit  this  statement,  in  order  to  save  Theism  from 
refutation,  because  geology  shows  us  the  commencement  of 
several  economies  on  the  globe,  which  point  us  to  a  divine 
Author.  But  the  doctrine  of  matter's  creation  out  of  nothing 
gives  a  desirable  completeness  to  the  system. 

In  looking  back  upon  the  subject,  which  has  thus  been  dis- 
cussed, too  briefly  for  its  merits,  but  too  prolixly  for  your 
patience,  several  important  inferences  force  themselves  upon 
our  attention. 

And  first,  it  furnishes  a  satisfactory  reply  to  a  well-known 
objection,  otherwise  unanswerable,  against  the  argument  from 
design  in  nature  to  prove  the  existence  of  a  Deity.  We  pre- 
sent ten  thousand  examples  of  exquisite  design  and  adaptation 
in  nature  to  the  atheist.  He  admits  them  all  ;  but  says,  it  was 
always  so,  and  therefore  requires  no  other  Deity  but  the  power 
eternally  inherent  in  nature.  At  your  metaphysical  replies 
to  his  objections  he  laughs  ;  but  when  you  take  him  back  on 
geological  wings,  and  bid  him  gaze  on  man,  just  springing, 
with  his  lofty  powers,  from  the  plastic  hands  of  his  Creator, 


176  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

and  then,  still  earlier,  you  point  him  to  system  after  system  of 
organic  life  starting  up  in  glorious  variety  and  beauty  on  the 
changing  earth,  and  even  still  nearer  the  birth  of  time,  you 
show  him  the  globe,  a  glowing  ocean  of  fire,  swept  of  all 
organic  life,  he  is  forced  to  exclaim,  "  A  God !  a  personal 
God  !  an  infinitely  wise  and  powerful  God  !  "  What  though 
he  still  clings  to  the  notion  of  matter's  eternity  ?  you  have 
forced  him  to  see  the  hand  of  Deity  in  its  wonderful  arrange- 
ments and  metamorphoses  ;  the  hand  of  such  a  Deity  as  might 
have  brought  it  into  existence  in  a  moment,  by  the  word  of 
his  power.* 

Secondly.  The  subject  presents  us  with  a  new  argument  for 
the  existence  of  a  God,  or  rather  a  satisfactory  modification 
of  the  argument  from  design.  In  that  argument,  as  derived 
from  other  sciences,  the  Theist  finds,  indeed,  multiplied  and 
beautiful  proofs  of  adaptation  and  apparent  design  ;  but  then  he 
cannot,  as  already  observed,  from  those  sciences  derive  proof 
of  the  commencement  either  of  matter  or  its  arrangements  ; 
and  then,  too,  the  sceptic,  with  plausible  ingenuity,  can  take 
his  stand  upon  law  as  the  efficient  agent  in  nature's  move- 
ments and  harmonies.  But  when  geology  shows  us,  not  the 
commencement  of  matter,  but  of  organism,  and  presents  us 
with  full  systems  of  animals  and  plants  springing  out  of  inor- 
ganic elements,  where  is  the  law  that  exhibits  even  a  tendency 
to  such  results  ?  Nothing  can  explain  them  but  the  law  of 
miracles ;  that  is,  creation  by  divine  interposition.  Thus  is 
the  idea  of  a  Deity  forced  nakedly  upon  us,  as  the  only  pos- 
sible solution  of  the  enigmas  of  creation.     The  metaphysical 

*-  The  subject  of  this  inference  is  treated  with  great  ability  and 
candor  in  the  Biblotheca  Sacra  for  November,  1849,  by  ray  friend  and 
colleague,  Rev.  Joseph  Haven,  Jr.,  professor  of  intellectual  and  moral 
philosophy  in  Amherst  College. 


GEOLOGY    SLANDERED.  177 

Theist  must  waste  half  his  strength  in  battling  the  questions 
about  the  beginning  of  matter,  and  the  laws  of  matter ;  nor 
can  he  ever  entirely  dislodge  the  enemy  from  these  strongholds 
of  atheism.  But  the  geological  Theist  takes  us  at  once  into  a 
field  where  work  has  been  done,  which  neither  eternal  law, 
nor  eternal  matter,  but  an  infinite  personal  Deity  only,  could 
accomplish. 

In  conclusion,  I  would  merely  refer  to  the  interesting  fact, 
that  geology  should  prove  almost  the  only  science  that  pre- 
sents us  with  exigencies  demanding  the  interposition  of  cre- 
ating power.  And  yet,  up  to  the  present  time,  geology  has 
been  looked  upon  by  many  Christian  writers  with  jealous  eye, 
because  it  was  supposed  to  teach  the  world's  eternity,  and 
so  to  account  for  natural  changes  by  catastrophes  and  the 
gradual  operation  of  existing  agencies,  as  to  render  a  Deity 
unnecessary,  either  for  the  creation  or  regulation  of  the  world. 
One  of  these  writers  has  even  most  uncharitably  and  unrea- 
sonably said,  that  "the  mineral  geology,  considered  as  a  sci- 
ence, can  do  as  well  without  God  (though  in  a  question  con- 
cerning the  origin  of  the  earth)  as  Lucretius  did."  —  Granville 
Penn,  Coinparative  Estimate^  &lq..  —  How  much  ground  there 
is  for  such  an  allegation,  let  the  developments  made  in  this 
lecture  answer.  Surely,  in  this  case,  geology  has  followed 
the  directions  of  the  Oriental  poet :  — 

«'  Learn  from  yon  Orient  shell  to  love  thy  foe, 
And  strew  with  pearls  the  hand  that  brings  thee  woe ; 
Free,  like  yon  rock,  from  base,  vindictive  pride, 
Emblaze  with  gems  the  wrist  that  rends  thy  side. 
Mark  where  yon  tree  rewards  the  stony  shower 
With  fruit  nectareous  or  the  balmy  flower. 
All  nature  calls  aloud,  — '  Shall  man  do  less 
Than  heal  the  sraitor,  and  the  railer  bless  ? '  " 


178  THE  world's  supposed  eternity. 

Misunderstood  or  misinterpreted  though  this  science  has 
been,  she  now  offers  her  aid  to  fortify  some  of  the  weakest 
outposts  of  religion.  And  thus  shall  it  ever  be  with  all  true 
science.  Twin  sister  of  natural  and  revealed  religion,  and 
of  heavenly  birth,  she  will  never  belie  her  celestial  origin,  nor 
cease  to  sympathize  with  all  that  emanates  from  the  same 
pure  home.  Human  ignorance  and  prejudice  may  for  a  time 
seem  to  have  divorced  what  God  has  joined  together.  But 
human  ignorance  and  prejudice  shall  at  length  pass  away,  and 
then  science  and  religion  shall  be  seen  blending  their  parti- 
colored rays  into  one  beautiful  bow  of  light,  linking  heaven 
to  earth  and  earth  to  heaven. 


(179) 


LECTURE     VI. 
GEOLOGICAL  PROOPS   OF  THE  DIVINE  BENEVOLENCE. 

The  subject  of  the  present  lecture  is  the  divine  benevo- 
lence, as  taught  by  geology.  But  what  connection,  it  will  be 
asked,  can  there  be  between  the  history  of  rocks  and  the  be- 
nevolence of  God  ?  Do  not  the  leading  points  of  that  history 
consist  of  terrible  catastrophes,  aqueous  or  igneous,  by  which 
the  crust  of  the  earth  has  been  dislocated  and  upheaved, 
mountains  lifted  up  and  overturned,  the  dry  land  inundated, 
now  by  scorching  lava,  and  now  by  the  ocean,  sweeping  from 
its  face  all  organic  life,  and  entombing  its  inhabitants  in  a 
stony  grave  ?  Who  can  find  the  traces  of  benevolence  in  the 
midst  of  such  desolation  and  death  ?  Is  it  not  the  very  place 
where  the  objector  would  find  arguments  to  prove  the  malev- 
olence, certainly  the  vindictive  justice,  of  the  Deity  ? 

This,  I  am  aware,  is  a  not  unnatural  prima  facie  view  of 
this  subject.  But  it  is  a  false  one.  Geology  does  furnish 
some  very  striking  evidence  of  divine  benevolence  ;  and  if 
I  can  show  this,  and  from  so  unpromising  a  field  gather  de- 
cisive arguments  on  this  subject,  they  will  be  so  much  clear 
gain  to  the  cause  of  Theism.  This  is  what,  therefore,  I  shall 
now  attempt  to  do. 

In  the  first  place,  I  derive  an  argument  for  the  divine  le- 
nevolence  from  the  manner  in  ivhich  soils  are  formed  by  the 
disintegration  and  decomposition  of  rocks. 

Chemical  analysis  shows  us  that  the   mineral  constituents 


180  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVIJVE    BENEVOLENCE. 

of  rocks  are  essentially  the  same  as  those  of  soils  ;  and  that 
the  latter  differ  from  the  former,  in  a  pulverized  state,  only 
in  containing  animal  and  vegetable  matter.  Hence  we  cannot 
doubt  but  the  soils  originated  from  the  rocks.  And,  in  fact,  the 
process  of  their  production  is  continually  going  on  under  our 
eyes.  Wherever  the  rocks  are  exposed  to  atmospheric  agen- 
cies, they  are  seen  to  crumble  down  ;  and,  in  fact,  most  of 
them,  having  been  long  exposed,  are  now  covered  with  a 
deposit  of  their  own  ruins,  forming  a  soil  over  them.  This 
process  is  in  part  decomposition  and  in  part  disintegration  ; 
and  as  we  look  upon  rocks  thus  wasting  away,  we  are  apt  to 
be  impressed  with  the  idea  that  it  is  an  instance  of  decay  in 
nature's  works,  which,  instead  of  indicating  benevolence, 
can  hardly  be  reconciled  with  divine  wisdom.  But  when  we 
learn  that  this  is  the  principal  mode  in  which  soils  are  pro- 
duced, that  without  it  vegetation  could  not  be  sustained,  and 
that  a  world  like  ours  without  plants  must  also  be  without 
animals,  this  apparent  ruin  puts  on  the  aspect  of  benevolence 
and  wise  design. 

My  second  argument  in  proof  of  the  divine  henevolence  is 
derived  from  the  disturbed,  broken,  and  overturned  condition 
of  the  earth'' s  crust. 

To  the  casual  observer,  the  rocks  have  the  appearance  of 
being  lifted  up,  shattered,  and  overturned.  But  it  is  only  the 
geologist  who  knows  the  vast  extent  of  this  disturbance.  He 
never  finds  cr3^stalline,  non-fossil ife reus  rocks,  which  have  not 
been  more  or  less  removed  from  their  original  position  ;  and 
usually  he  finds  them  to  have  been  thrown  up  by  some 
powerful  agency  into  almost  every  possible  position.  The 
older  fossiliferous  strata  exhibit  almost  equal  evidence  of  the 
operation  of  a  powerful  disturbing  force,  though  sometimes 
found  in  their  original  horizontal  position.     The  newer  rocks 


BROKEN  AND  FOLDED  STRATA.  181 

have  experiencecTless  of  this  agency,  though  but  few  of  them 
have  not  been  elevated  or  dislocated.  Mountainous  countries 
exhibit  this  action  most  strikingly.  There  it  is  shown  some- 
times on  a  magnificent  scale.  Entire  mountains  in  the  Alps, 
for  instance,  appear  not  only  to  have  been  lifted  up  from  the 
ocean's  depths,  but  to  have  been  actually  thrown  over,  so  as 
to  bring  the  lowest  and  oldest  rocks  at  the  top  of  the  series. 
The  extensive  range  of  mountains  in  this  country,  com- 
mencing in  Canada,  and  embracing  the  Green  Mountains  of 
Vermont,  the  Highlands  of  New  York,  and  most  of  the 
Alleghany  chain  as  far  as  Alabama,  a  distance  of  some 
twelve  hundred  miles,  has  also  been  lifted  up,  and  some  of 
the  strata,  by  a  lateral  force,  folded  together,  and  then  thrown 
over,  so  as  now  to  occupy  an  inverted  position.  Let  us  now 
see  wherein  this  agency  exhibits  benevolence. 

If  these  strata  had  remained  horizontal,  as  they  were  origi- 
nally deposited,  it  is  obvious  that  all  the  valuable  ores,  min- 
erals, and  rocks,  which  man  could  not  have  discovered  by 
direct  excavation,  must  have  remained  forever  unknown  to 
him.  Now,  man  has  very  seldom  penetrated  the  rocks  below 
the  depth  of  half  a  mile,  and  rarely  so  deep  as  that ;  whereas^ 
by  the  elevations,  dislocations,  and  overturnings  that  have 
been  described,  he  obtains  access  to  all  deposits  of  useful 
substances  that  lie  within  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  of  the  sur- 
face ;  and  many  are  thus  probably  brought  to  light  from  a 
greater  depth.  He  is  indebted,  then,  to  this  disturbing  agency 
for  nearly  all  the  useful  metals,  coal,  rock  salt,  marble,  gyp- 
sum, and  other  useful  minerals ;  and  when  we  consider  how 
necessary  these  substances  are  to  civilized  society,  who  will 
doubt  that  it  was  a  striking  act  of  benevolence  which  thus 
introduced  disturbance,  dislocation,  and  apparent  ruin  into 
the  earth's  crust  ? 
16 


182  GEOLOGICAL    mOOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

Another  decided  advantage  resulting  from  this  disturbing 
agency  is  the  formation  of  valleys. 

If  we  suppose  the  strata  spread  uniformly  over  the  earth's 
entire  surface,  then  the  ocean  must  envelop  the  whole  globe. 
But,  admitting  such  interruptions  in  the  strata  to  exist  as 
would  leave  cavities,  where  the  waters  might  be  gathered 
together  into  one  place,  and  the  dry  land  appear,  still  that 
dry  land  must  form  only  an  unbroken  level.  Streams  of 
water  could  not  exist  on  such  a  continent,  because  they  de- 
pend upon  inequalities  of  surface  ;  and  whatever  water  existed 
must  have  formed  only  stagnant  ponds,  and  the  morasses 
which  would  be  the  consequence  would  load  the  air  with 
miasms  fatal  to  life  ;  so  that  we  may  safely  pronounce  the 
world  uninhabitable  by  natures  adapted  to  the  present  earth. 
But  such,  essentially,  must  have  been  the  state  of  things,  had 
not  internal  forces  elevated  and  fractured  the  earth's  crust. 
For  that  was  the  origin  of  most  of  our  valleys  —  of  all  the 
larger  valleys,  indeed,  which  checker  the  surface  of  primary 
countries.  Most  of  them  have  been  modified  by  subsequent 
agencies  ;  but  their  leading  features,  their  outlines,  have  been 
the  result  of  those  internal  disturbances  which  spread  desola- 
tion over  the  surface.  We  are  apt  to  look  upon  such  an 
agency  as  an  exhibhion  of  retributive  justice,  rather  than  of 
benevolence.  And  yet  that  admirable  system  for  the  circula- 
tion of  water,  whereby  the  rain  that  falls  upon  the  surface  is 
conveyed  to  the  ocean,  whence  it  is  returned  by  evaporation, 
depends  upon  it.  It  imparts,  to  all  organic  nature,  life,  health, 
and  activity ;  and  had  it  not  thus  ridged  up  the  surface,  stag- 
nation and  death  must  have  reigned  over  all  the  earth.  In 
the  unhealthiness  of  low,  flat  countries,  at  present,  we  see 
the  terrible  condition  of  things  in  a  world  without  valleys. 
Can  we  doubt,  then,  that  it  was  the  hand  of  benevolence  that 


NATURAL    SCENERY.  183 

drove  the  ploughshare  of  ruin  through  the  earth's  crust,  and 
ridged  up  its  surface  into  a  thousand  fantastic  forms  ? 

It  will  more  deeply  impress  us  with  this  benevolence  to 
remember  that  most  of  the  sublime  and  the  beautiful  in  the 
scenery  of  a  country  depends  upon  this  disturbing  agency. 
Beautiful  as  vegetable  nature  is,  how  tame  is  a  landscape 
where  only  a  dead  level  is  covered  with  it,  and  no  swelling 
hills,  or  jutting  rocks,  or  murmuring  waters,  relieve  the  monot- 
onous scene '  And  how  does  the  interest  increase  with  the 
wildness  and  ruggedness  of  the  surface,  and  reach  its  maxi- 
mum only  where  the  disturbance  and  dislocation  have  been 
most  violent ! 

Some  may,  perhaps,  doubt  whether  it  can  have  been  one 
of  the  objects  of  divine  benevolence  and  wisdom,  in  arranging 
the  surface  of  this  world,  so  to  construct  and  adorn  it  as  to 
gratify  a  taste  for  fine  scenery.  But  I  cannot  doubt  it.  I  see 
not  else  why  nature  every  where  is  fitted  up  in  a  lavish  man- 
ner with  all  the  elements  of  the  sublime  and  beautiful,  nor 
why  there  are  powers  in  the  human  soul  so  intensely  gratified 
in  contact  with  those  elements,  unless  they  were  expressly 
adapted  for  one  another  by  the  Creator.  Surely  natural 
scenery  does  afford  to  the  unsophisticated  soul  one  of  the 
richest  and  purest  sources  of  enjoyment  to  be  found  on  earth. 
If  this  be  doubted  by  any  one,  it  must  be  because  he  has  never 
been  placed  in  circumstances  to  call  into  exercise  his  natural 
love  of  the  beautiful  and  the  sublime  in  creation.  Let  me 
persuade  such  a  one,  at  least  in  imagination,  to  break  away 
from  the  slavish  routine  of  business  or  pleasure,  and  in  the 
height  of  balmy  summer  to  accompany  me  to  a  few  spots, 
where  his  soul  will  swell  with  new  and  strong  emotions,  if 
his  natural  sensibilities  to  the  grand  and  beautiful  have  not 
become  thoroughly  dead  within  him. 


184  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

We  might  profitably  pause  for  a  moment  at  this  enchanting 
season  of  the  year,  (June,)  and  look  abroad  from  that  gentle 
elevation  on  which  we  dwell,  now  all  mantled  over  with  a 
flowery  carpet,  wafting  its  balmy  odors  into  our  studies.  Can 
any  thing  be  more  delightful  than  the  waving  forests,  with 
their  dense  and  deep  green  foliage,  interspersed  with  grassy 
and  sunny  fields  and  murmuring  streamlets,  which  spread  all 
around  us  ?  How  rich  the  graceful  slopes  of  yonder  distant 
mountains,  which  bound  the  Connecticut  on  either  side ! 
How  imposing  Mount  Sugar  Loaf  on  the  north,  with  its  red- 
belted  and  green-tufted  crown,  and  Mettawampe  too,  with  its 
rocky  terraces  on  the  one  side,  and  its  broad  slopes  of  un- 
broken forest  on  the  other!  Especially,  how  beautifully  and 
even  majestically  does  the  indented  summit  of  Mount  Hol- 
yoke  repose  against  the  summer  sky  !  What  sunrises  and 
sunsets  do  we  here  witness,  and  what  a  multitude  of  permu- 
tations and  combinations  pass  before  us  during  the  day,  as 
we  watch  from  hour  to  hour  one  of  the  loveliest  landscapes 
of  New  England ! 

Let  us  now  turn  our  steps  to  that  huge  pile  of  mountains 
called  the  White  Hills  of  New  Hampshire.  We  will  ap- 
proach them  through  the  valley  of  the  Saco  River,  and  at 
the  distance  of  thirty  miles  they  will  be  seen  looming  up  in 
the  horizon,  with  the  clouds  reposing  beneath  their  naked 
heads.  As  the  observer  approaches  them,  the  sides  of  the 
valley  v/ill  gradually  close  in  upon  him,  and  rise  higher  and 
higher,  until  he  will  find  their  naked  granitic  summits  almost 
jutting  over  his  path,  to  the  height  of  several  thousand  feet, 
seeming  to  form  the  very  battlements  of  heaven.  Now  and 
then  will  he  see  the  cataract  leaping  hundreds  of  feet  down 
their  sides,  and  the  naked  path  of  some  recent  landslip, 
which  carried  death  and  desolation  in  its  track.     From  this 


THE    WHITE    MOUNTAINS.  185 

deep  and  wild  chasm  he  will  at  length  emerge,  and  climb  the 
vast  ridge,  until  he  has  seen  the  forest  trees  dwindle,  and  at 
length  disappear ;  and  standing  upon  the  naked  summit,  im- 
mensity seems  stretched  out  before  him.  But  he  has  not  yet 
reached  the  highest  point ;  and  far  in  the  distance,  and  far 
above  him,  Mount  Washington  seems  to  repose  in  awful 
majesty  against  the  heavens.  Turning  his  course  thither,  he 
follows  the  narrow  and  naked  ridge  over  one  peak  after 
another,  first  rising  upon  Mount  Pleasant,  then  Mount  Frank- 
lin, and  then  Mount  Monroe,  each  lifting  him  higher,  and 
making  the  sea  of  mountains  around  him  more  wdde  and  bil- 
lowy, and  the  yawning  gulfs  on  either  side  more  profound 
and  awful,  so  that  every  moment  his  interest  deepens,  and 
reaches  not  its  climax  till  he  stands  upon  Mount  Washington, 
when  the  vast  panorama  is  completed,  and  the  world  seems 
spread  out  at  his  feet.  Yet  it  does  not  seem  to  be  a  peopled 
world,  for  no  mighty  city  lies  beneath  him.  Indeed,  were  it 
there,  he  would  pass  it  almost  unnoticed.  For  why  should  he 
regard  so  small  an  object  as  a  city,  when  the  world  is  before 
him  ?  —  a  world  of  mountains,  bearing  the  impress  of  God's 
own  hand,  standing  in  solitary  grandeur,  just  as  he  piled  them 
up  in  primeval  ages,  and  stretching  away  on  every  side  as 
far  as  the  eye  can  reach.  On  that  pinnacle  of  the  northern 
regions  no  sound  of  man  or  beast  breaks  in  upon  the  awful 
stillness  which  reigns  there,  and  which  seems  to  bring  the 
soul  into  near  communion  with  the  Deity.  It  is,  indeed,  the 
impressive  Sabbath  of  nature  ;  and  the  soul  feels  a  delightful 
awe,  which  can  never  be  forgotten.  Giadly  would  it  linger 
there  for  hours,  and  converse  with  the  mighty  and  the  holy 
thoughts  which  come  crowding  into  it ;  and  it  is  only  when 
the  man  looks  at  the  rapidly  declining  sun  that  he  is  roused 
from  his  revery  and  commences  his  descending  march. 
IG* 


186  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

Let  such  a  man  next  accompany  me  to  Niagara.  We  will 
pass  by  all  minor  cataracts,  and  place  ourselves  at  once  on 
the  margin  of  one  that  knows  no  rival.  Let  not  the  man  take 
a  hasty  glance,  and  in  disappointment  conclude  that  he  shall 
find  no  interest  and  no  sublimity  there.  Let  him  go  to  the 
edge  of  the  precipice,  and  watch  the  deep  waters  as  they  roll 
over,  and,  changing  their  sea-green  brightness  for  a  fleecy 
white,  pour  down  upon  the  rocks  beneath,  and  dash  back  again 
in  spray  high  in  the  air.  Let  him  go  to  the  foot  of  the  sheet, 
and  look  upward  till  the  cataract  swells  into  its  proper  size. 
Let  him,  on  the  Canada  shore,  take  in  the  whole  breadth  of 
the  cataract  at  once  ;  and  as  he  stands  musing,  let  him  listen 
to  the  deep  thunderings  of  the  falling  sheet.  Let  him  go  to 
Table  Rock,  and  creep  forward  to  its  jutting  edge,  and  gaze 
steadily  into  the  foaming  and  eddying  waters  so  far  beneath 
him,  until  his  nerves  thrill  and  vibrate,  and  he  involuntarily 
shrinks  back,  exclaiming, — 

"How  dreadful 
And  dizzy  'tis  to  cast  one's  eyes  so  low  ! 

I'll  look  no  more, 
Lest  my  brain  turn." 

Next,  let  him  stand  upon  that  rock  till  the  sun  approaches 
so  near  the  western  horizon  that  a  glorious  bow,  forming  an 
almost  entire  circle  on  the  cataract  and  the  spray,  shall  clothe 
the  scene  with  unearthly  beauty,  and,  in  connection  with  the 
emerald  green  of  the  waters,  give  it  a  brilliancy  fully  equal  to 
its  sublimity.  And  finally,  if  he  would  add  the  emotions  of 
moral  to  natural  sublimity,  let  him  follow  to  Ontario,  the  deep 
gulf  through  which  all  these  waters  flow,  and,  gathering  up  the 
evidence,  which  he  will  find  too  strong  to  resist,  that  they 
themselves  have   worn  that  gulf  backward  seven   miles,   let 


MOUNTAINS    OF    AVALES.  187 

him  try  the  rules  of  geological  arithmetic  to  see  if  he  can 
reach  the  period  of  its  commencement.  Surely,  when  he 
reviews  the  emotions  of  that  day,  he  will  never  again  doubt 
that  the  magnificent  scenery  of  our  world  is  the  result  of  be- 
nevolent design  on  the  part  of  the  Creator. 

If,  now,  we  cross  the  Atlantic,  we  shall  easily  find  scenes 
of  natural  beauty  and  sublimity,  that  have  long  elicited  the 
wonder  and  delight  of  thousands  of  genuine  taste.  Shall  we 
turn  our  steps  first  to  the  valleys  and  mountains  of  Wales  ? 
To  an  American  eye,  indeed,  they  lack  one  important  feature, 
in  being  so  destitute  of  trees.  But  then  their  wild  aspect, 
their  ragged  and  rocky  outlines,  present  a  picture  of  the  sub- 
limity of  desolation  rarely  equalled.  And  as  you  ascend  the 
mountains,  —  Snowdon,  for  instance,  the  highest  of  them  all, 
—  you  find  their  summits,  not  rounded,  as  our  American  moun- 
tains, by  former  drift  agency,  nor  forming  continuous  ridges, 
but  shooting  up  in  ragged  peaks  and  edges,  as  if  they  formed 
the  teeth  of  mother  earth;  although,  in  fact,  it  was  the  tooth 
of  time  that  has  gnawed  them  into  their  present  forms.  As 
you  approach  the  summit,  you  feel  animated  in  anticipation 
of  the  splendid  prospect  about  to  open  upon  you.  But  the 
clouds  begin  to  gather,  and  soon  envelop  the  mountain  top ; 
and  though  you  reach  the  pinnacle,  the  dense  mist  limits  your 
vision  to  a  circle  of  a  few  rods  in  diameter.  But  ere  long  the 
vapor  begins  to  break  away,  and  the  lofty  cliffs  and  deep  cav- 
erns around  you  are  revealed.  Now  and  then,  the  lake,  so  often 
found  in  the  recesses  of  these  mountains,  is  half  seen  through 
the  opening  cloud,  and,  magnified  by  the  obscurity,  it  seems 
more  distant  and  grand  than  if  distinctly  visible.  Gradually 
the  clouds  open  in  various  directions,  disclosing  gulf  after 
gulf,  lake  after  lake,  mountain  after  mountain,  and,  finally,  the 
Irish  Channel,  dotted   with  sails ;  and   the   whole   scene   lies 


188  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

spread  out  before  you  in  glories  that  cannot  be  described. 
You  are  standing  upon  the  pinnacle  of  England,  and  you  feel 
as  if  almost  the  whole  of  it  lay  within  the  circle  of  vision. 
After  enjoying  so  splendid  a  scene,  you  are  thankful  that  the 
cloud  hid  it  at  first  from  your  sight,  and  so  much  enhanced 
your  pleasure  by  opening  vista  after  vista,  till  the  whole  be- 
came one  magnificent  circle  of  picturesque  beauty  and  sub- 
limity.* 

To  relieve  the  mind  after  gazing  long  on  such  scenes  of 
rugged  grandeur,  let  us  turn  our  course  southerly,  and  follow 
down  the  romantic  banks  of  the  Wye,  where  every  turn  pre- 
sents some  new  beauties,  occasionally  disclosing  the  ruins  of 
some  old  castle,  or  magnificent  abbey,  (Tinton,)  and  at  length 
Bristol,  with  its  aristocratic  adjunct,  Clifton,  turns  your  thoughts 
from  the  works  of  nature  to  those  of  man.  And  yet,  even 
Clifton's  elegant  Crescent  is  but  a  meagre  show  by  the  side 
of  the  magnificent  gorge  which  the  Avon  has  cut  in  the  rocks 
just  before  it  enters  Bristol  Channel. 

Passing  over  to  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  traversing  its  shores, 
we  shall  witness  many  unique  examples  of  natural  beauty, 
swelling  sometimes  into  sublimity,  —  such  are  the  chalk  cliffs 
near  its  western  extremity,  from  two  hundred  to  six  hundred 
feet  high, —  sometimes  hollowed  out  into  magnificent  domes, 
and  the  pillars  of  chalk,  called  Needles^  in  the  midst  of  the 
sea,  alive  with  sea  gulls  and  cormorants,  and   forming  the 

*  In  this  description  I  have  attempted  to  give  exactly  the  experi- 
ence of  myself  and  John  Tappan,  Esq.,  with  our  wives,  who  ascended 
Snowdon  in  June,  1850.  A  few  days  after,  we  ascended  Cader  Idris, 
another  mountain  of  Wales,  near  Dolgelly,  where  the  views  were 
perhaps  equally  wild  and  sublime,  with  the  addition  of  a  vast  num- 
ber of  trap  columns,  and  a  pseudo-crater,  with  its  jagged  and  frown- 
ing sides. 


HIGHLANDS  OF  SCOTLAND.  189 

remnants  of  the  chalk  bridge  that  once  united  the  island  to 
England.  There,  too,  Alum  Bay,  with  its  many-colored 
strata  of  clay,  unites  the  interesting  in  geology  v/ith  the  pic- 
turesque in  scenery. 

Along  the  southern  coast,  also,  are  the  stupendous  cliffs 
and  the  romantic  under-cliffs,  as  well  as  the  ragged  chines^ 
where  an  almost  tropical  climate  attracts  the  invalid,  while  the 
cool  sea  breezes  draw  thither  the  wealthy  and  the  fashionable. 

But  if  sublime  scenery  pleases  us  more,  we  must  traverse 
the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  — 

"  Land  of  bro^^ai  heath  and  shaggy  furze," 

land  of  lofty  and  naked  mountains,  embosoming  lakes  of  great 
beauty,  and  full  of  historic  and  poetic  interest. 

Passing  over  Loch  Lomond,  the  queen  of  Scottish  lakes, 
you  go  through  the  long  shadow  of  Ben  Lomond,  propped 
by  many  lesser  mountains.  Kising  into  the  Highlands,  the 
sterility  and  wildness  increase,  and  reach  their  maximum  in 
Glencoe,  whose  wildness  and  sublimity  are  indeed  indescriba- 
ble ;  but  if  seen,  they  can  never  be  forgotten.  Still  farther 
ncrth,  Ben  Nevis  lifts  its  uncovered  head  above  all  other 
mountains  in  the  British  Isles;  so  high,  indeed,  that  often, 
during  the  whole  summer,  it  retains  a  portion  of  its  snowy, 
wintry  mantle. 

Yet  farther  north,  we  come  to  the  unique  termces,  called 
the  Parallel  Roads  of  Glen  Roy,  formerly  supposed  to  be  the 
work  of  giants ;  but  now,  that  they  are  known  to  be  the  prod- 
uct of  nature,  proving  not  only  objects  of  great  scenographi- 
cal  interest,  but  a  problem  of  special  importance  and  diffi- 
culty in  geology. 

If  we  should  pass  from  Scotland  to  the  north-east  part  of 
Ireland,  taking  Staffa  in  our  way,  we  should  find  in  the  basaltic 


190  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

columns  of  Fingal's  Cave,  and  the  Giant's  Causeway,  what 
seems,  at  first  view,  to  be  stupendous  human  structures,  or 
rather  the  architecture  of  giants.  But  you  soon  find  it  to  be 
only  an  example  — 

'<  Where  nature  works  as  if  defying  art, 
And,  in  defiance  of  her  rival  powers, 
By  these  fortuitous  and  random  strokes, 
Performing  such  inimitable  feats. 
As  she,  with  all  her  rules,  can  never  reach." 

Let  any  one  sail  along  the  coast  for  a  few  miles  at  the 
Giant's  Causeway,  enter  some  of  the  deep  and  echoing  cav- 
erns, overhung  by  the  basaltic  mass,  and  see  the  columns  rising 
tier  above  tier,  sometimes  four  hundred  feet  in  height,  and 
assuming  every  wild  and  fantastic  shape  ;  or  let  him  walk 
over  the  acres  of  columns,  whose  tops  are  as  perfectly  polyg- 
onal and  as  accurately  fitted  to  one  another  as  the  most 
skilful  architect  could  make  them,  and  he  will  confess  how 
superior  Nature  is,  when  she  would  present  a  model  for  human 
imitation  ;  and  how  with  accurate  system  she  can  combine  the 
wildest  disorder,  and  thus  delight  by  symmetry,  while  she 
awes  by  sublimity. 

Let  us  next  pass  over  to  continental  Europe.  We  have  reached 
the  Rhine  at  Bonn,  and  the  steamboat  takes  us  at  once  into 
the  midst  of  the  romantic  Drachenfels,  or  seven  mountains, 
the  result  of  volcanic  agency,  and  still  presenting  more  or  less 
of  the  conical  outline  peculiar  almost  to  modern  volcanoes. 
These  are  the  commencement  of  the  romantic  scenery  of  the 
Rhine.  From  thence  to  Bingen,  some  sixty  or  seventy 
miles,  that  river  has  cut  its  way  through  hills  and  mountains, 
sometimes  rising  one  thousand  feet.  Along  their  base,  the 
inhabitants  have  planted  many  a  well-known  town,  while  old 


THE    RHIiNE    AiS'D    SWITZERLAND.  191 

castles,  half  crumbled  down,  recall  continually  the  history  of 
feudal  ages  ;  and  here,  too,  springs  up  a  multitude  of  remem- 
brances of  startling  events  in  more  recent  times.  The  mind, 
indeed,  finds  itself  drawn  at  one  moment  to  some  historical 
monument,  and  the  next  to  scenery  of  surpassing  beauty  or 
sublimity  ;  now  the  bold,  overhanging  rock,  now  the  deep 
recess,  now  the  towering  mountain,  now  the  quiet  dell  with 
its  romantic  villages ;  while  every  where  on  the  north  bank, 
the  vine-clad  terraces  show  us  what  wonders  human  industry 
can  accomplish. 

Nor  does  the  Rhine  lose  its  interest  when  we  have  emerged 
from  its  Ghor  into  its  more  open  valley,  from  Bingen  to 
Basle,  in  Switzerland.  On  its  right  bank,  the  Vosges  Moun- 
tains, and  on  its  left,  the  Black  Forest,  with  not  infrequent 
volcanic  summits,  afford  a  fine  resting-place  for  the  eye,  as 
the  rail  car  bears  us  rapidly  over  the  rich  intervening  level. 
Or  if  we  turn  aside,  —  as  to  Heidelberg,  on  the  Neckar, — 
what  can  be  a  more  splendid  sight  than  to  stand  by  the  old 
castle  above  the  town,  and  look  down  the  valley  as  the  sun  is 
sinking  in  the  west ! 

But  after  all,  it  is  in  Switzerland,  and  there  only,  that  we 
meet  with  the  climax  of  scenographical  wonders.  Nowhere 
else  can  we  find  such  lakes  in  the  midst  of  such  mountains  ; 
such  pleasant  valleys  bordered  by  such  stupendous  hills  ;  such 
gorges,  and  precipices,  and  passes,  and  especially  such  gla- 
ciers ;  such  avalanches,  such  snow-capped  mountains,  while 
vegetation  at  their  base,  and  far  up  their  sides,  is  fresh  and 
luxuriant. 

Embark,  for  instance,  at  Zurich,  and,  crossing  its  beautiful 
lake,  direct  your  course  towards  Mount  Eighi.  As  the  heavy 
dihgence  lifts  you  above  the  lake,  you  begin  to  catch  glimpses 
of  the  grandeur  of  the  Swiss  mountains  to  the  south,  piercing 


192  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

the  clouds  far  oflT.  Passing  the  romantic  Zug,  you  come  to 
the  valley  between  the  Rossberg  and  the  Righi,  and  the 
denuded  face  of  the  former  tells  you  whence  came  the  mass 
of  ruins  over  which  you  clamber,  and  which  buried  the  villages 
of  Goldau,  Bussingen,  and  Rothen  several  hundred  feet  deep 
with  blocks  of  stone  and  soil.  Long  and  steep  is  your  ascent 
of  Righi,  nearly  six  thousand  feet  above  the  sea.  But  the 
views  you  obtain  by  the  way  become  wider  and  grander  at 
every  step.  Reaching  the  summit  near  sunset,  you  may  be 
gratified  by  a  panoramic  view  of  a  large  part  of  Switzerland, 
embracing  its  wildest  and  grandest  scenery.  Yet,  if  the 
clouds  prevent,  you  wait  for  the  morning,  in  the  hope  of  being 
more  fortunate.  With  the  earliest  dawn  you  awake,  and 
proceed  to  the  summit  of  the  mountain,  where  hundreds, 
perhaps,  from  all  civilized  lands,  are  congregated,  to  witness 
the  rising  of  the  sun.  But  a  dense  cloud  envelops  the 
mountain,  and  hope  almost  dies  within  you.  Wait,  however, 
a  few  moments,  and  the  rising  sun  will  depress  the  clouds 
below  the  mountain's  summit,  and  a  scene  of  glory  shall 
open  upon  you,  which  can  never  be  erased  from  your  mem- 
ory. Look  now,  for  the  sun's  first  rays  have  shed  a  flood  of 
Sjlory  over  the  clouds  which  now  fill  the  valleys  beneath  your 
feet.  A  fleecy  white  predominates  ;  but  the  colors  of  the 
prism  tinge  the  edges  of  the  clouds,  and  no  part  of  the  solid 
earth  rises  above  them,  save  the  pinnacle  on  which  you 
stand,  and  to  the  south  the  higher  peaks  of  the  Bernese  Alps, 
—  the  Jungfrau,  the  Eiger,  the  Shreckhorn,  and  the  Wetter- 
horn, —  covered  with  snow  and  glaciers,  and  seeming  too 
pure  to  belong  to  earth.  Indeed,  the  whole  scene  seemed  to 
me  to  be  unearthly ;  the  fittest  emblem  that  my  eyes  ever  rested 
upon  of  celestial  scenes ;  and  one  cannot  repress  the  desire, 
when  looking  upon  it,  to  be  borne  away  on  wings  over  the 


MONT    BLANC.  193 

glorious  scene,  and  to  repose  for  a  time  upon  the  gorgeous 
bed,  forgetful  of  the  lower  world.  Yet  when,  at  length,  the 
clouds  begin  to  break  away,  and  disclose  the  deep  valleys 
and  blue  lakes,  —  places  made  immortal  by  the  deeds  of  such 
patriots  and  reformers  as  Tell  and  Zuinglius,  —  we  feel  again 
the  attractions  of  earth  ;  and  as  we  descend  to  Lake  Lucerne, 
we  have  before  us  such  scenery  as  scarcely  any  other  part 
of  the  world  can  furnish.  And  these  scenes  continue,  in 
ever-changing  aspects,  wherever  we  wander  along  this  en- 
chanting lake  ;  and  though  the  exhausted  brain  fails  at  length, 
the  objects  of  interest  do  not. 

From  this  lake  we  might  turn  our  course  easterly,  and 
soon  find  ourselves  amid  the  glacial  regions  of  the  Oberland 
Alps  —  scenes  full  of  deep  and  thrilling  interest.  But  let  us 
rather  turn  southerly,  and,  following  down  the  great  valley  of 
Switzerland,  find  our  way  among  the  Alps  of  Savoy,  where  the 
same  phenomena  attain  their  maximum  of  interest  and  sub- 
limity, and  the  great  monarch  of  the  Alps  is  seen,  wearing 
his  hoary  crown.  As  we  pass  along  towards  Lake  Lehman, 
if  the  air  be  clear,  the  Bernese  Alps  loom  up  in  unrivalled 
majesty;  and  as  we  sail  over  Lake  Lehman,  Mont  Blanc,  with 
some  of  its  nearly  equal  associates,  shows  its  distant  yet  im- 
pressive form.  Passing  without  notice  the  almost  unrivalled 
beauties  of  Lehman,  and  following  up  the  Arve  through  its  stu- 
pendous gorges,  we  catch  views  of  Mont  Blanc,  as  we  approach 
it,  that  possess  overpowering  sublimity.  At  length,  Chamouny 
is  reached  —  a  lovely  vale  in  the  midst  of  Alpine  wonders. 
From  thence  we  first  ascend  the  Flegere,  thirty-five  hundred 
feet  above  the  valley,  and  sixty-five  hundred  above  the 
ocean ;  and  there  we  get  a  fine  view  of  Mont  Blanc  and  the 
Aiguilles,  or  Needles.  Here  distances  are  vastly  diminished 
to  the  eye,  and  you  seem  in  near  proximity  even  with  Mont 
17 


194         GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

Blanc ;  and,  in  fact,  should  any  adventurous  visitors  have 
reached  the  top  of  that  mountain,  a  good  spy-glass  will  show 
them  from  this  spot.* 

On  the  opposite  side  of  the  valley  from  the  Flegere,  and 
at  about  the  same  height,  is  Montanvert,  the  most  convenient 
spot  for  traversing  the  glacier  called  the  Mer  de  Glace.  If, 
however,  one  would  see  the  lower  extremity  of  that  glacier, 
and  the  Arveron  issuing  from  it,  he  must  pass  along  the  right 
hand  side  of  the  stream,  and  then  he  can  follow  up  the 
glacier  to  Montanvert ;  and  strange  would  it  be  if,  in  doing 
this,  he  should  not  hear  and  see  the  frequent  avalanche. 

We  have  now  reached  the  field  where  everlasting  war  is 
carried  on  between  heat  and  cold,  summer  and  winter.  Below 
us,  verdure  clothes  the  valleys,  and  climbs  up  the  slopes  of 
the  hills;  and  there  the  shepherd  watches  his  flocks.  Above 
us  there  are  fields  of  ice  stretching  many  a  league,  save 
where  some  needle-shaped  summit  of  naked  rock,  too  steep 
for  snow  to  rest  upon,  shoots  up  in  lonely  grandeur  thousands 
of  feet,  and  defies  the  raging  elements.  From  these  oceans 
of  ice  shoot  forth  down  the  valleys  enormous  glaciers,  appear- 
ing like  vast  rivers  of  ice,  winding  among  the  hills,  and 
pushing,  at  the  rate  of  a  few  inches  each  day,  far  into  regions 


*  When  I  visited  this  spot,  in  September,  1850,  I  was  so  fortunate 
as  to  get  sight  of  a  party  that  had  just  commenced  the  descent  from 
the  summit  of  Mont  Blanc.  To  the  naked  eye  they  were  invisible, 
but  the  whole  train  could  be  distinctly  seen  through  a  telescope. 
This  was  the  third  party  that  had  ascended  that  mountain  in  thr 
summer  of  1850.  I  doubt  not  that  the  dangers  have  been  exagger 
ated,  and  that  the  excursion  will  become  common. 

There  are  other  points  of  great  interest  around  Chamouny,  whic 
I  have  not  noticed,  some  of  which  I  visited,  but  not  all.  I  hav 
mentioned  only  the  most  common. 


MOUNT    ARARAT.  195 

of  vegetation  ;  one  year  encroaching  upon  the  shepherd's 
pasture  ground,  and  anon,  by  the  access  of  heat,  driven  back 
towards  the  summit ;  hurling  down,  from  time  to  time,  as 
they  push  forward,  the  thundering  avalanche. 

Without  difficuhy  at  Montanvert  we  can  enter  upon  the 
glacier,  and  in  spite  of  the  deep  crevasse,  and  the  elemental 
war,  which  always  rages  in  those  lofty  regions,  we  may  make 
our  way  to  their  source.  Nay,  human  feet,  as  already 
suggested,  have  pressed  even  the  top  of  Mont  Blanc  ;  and 
should  we  reach  this  summit  of  the  Alps,  we  should  stand 
upon  the  loftiest  point  of  Europe,  and  behold  a  scene  which 
but  few  eyes  ever  have,  or  ever  will,  rest  upon.     We  should 

"  breathe 
The  difficult  air  of  the  iced  mountain's  top, 
Where  the  birds  dare  not  build,  nor  insect's  wing 
Flit  o'er  the  herbless  granite." 

We  should,  in  fact,  have  reached  the  climax  of  the  sublime 
in  natural  scenery. 

Thus  far  I  have  described,  almost  without  exception,  only 
what  I  have  seen.  But  let  us  now  venture  into  regions 
where  we  have  only  the  description  of  others  to  guide  us. 
Let  us  enter  the  region  of  ancient  Armenia,  a  country  com- 
posed of  wide  plains,  bounded  and  intersected  by  precipitous 
mountains.  As  we  journeyed  south-easterly  over  one  of 
these  plains,  a  remarkable  conical  summit  would  arrest  our 
attention,  at  the  distance  of  sixty  miles.  Day  after  day,  as 
we  approached,  it  would  creep  up  higher  and  higher  above 
the  horizon,  developing  its  commanding  features,  and  rivetting 
more  intensely  the  attention  upon  it.  As  we  came  near  its 
base,  we  should  see  that  its  top  rose  far  into  the  region  of 
eternal  ice,  whose  glassy  surface  would  reflect  the  light  like 


196  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

a  mirror,  and  whose  lower  edge  had  shot  forth  enormous 
glaciers  as  far  as  the  heat  would  allow  them  to  descend.  In 
the  plain  below,  we  should  be  sweltering  in  a  tropical  heat ; 
but  the  same  sun  that  melted  us  would  make  no  impression 
upon  the  wintry  crown  of  the  mountain.  We  could  not  keep 
our  eyes  or  thoughts  turned  away  from  an  object  so  sublime. 
And  it  would  deepen  the  impression  to  learn  that  this  gigan- 
tic cone,  shooting  up  three  and  a  half  miles,  was  once  a  vol- 
cano ;  and  still  more  would  it  deepen  our  interest  to  learn 
that  this  is  the  mountain  which  universal  tradition  in  that 
region  regards  as  the  Mount  Ararat,  the  resting-place  of  the 
ark.  It  would  strike  us  forcibly  to  realize  that  what  seems  to 
us  now  to  be  a  pillar  of  heaven,  was  the  patriarch's  stepping- 
stone  from  the  antediluvian  into  the  postdiluvian  world. 

One  more  example  may  suffice.  Go  with  me  to  the  Sand- 
wich Islands,  and  we  shall  get  an  impressive  glimpse  of  the 
principal  agency  by  which  the  earth's  crust  has  been  ridged, 
furrowed,  and  dislocated.  As  we  land  upon  Hawaii,  we  per- 
ceive it  to  be  composed  mainly  of  lava  of  no  very  ancient 
date.  We  ascend  a  lofty  plateau^  and  many  a  league  in  ad- 
vance of  us  we  see  a  column  of  smoke  rising  from  a  vast 
plain.  Directing  our  course  thither,  while  yet  some  miles 
from  it,  we  descend  a  steep  slope  to  a  broad  terrace,  and  then 
another  slope  to  a  second  terrace.  These  slopes  and  terraces 
extend  circularly  around  the  pillar  of  smoke  like  the  seats  of 
a  vast  amphitheatre. 

Coming  near  to  this  column,  our  steps  are  arrested  on  the 
margin  of  a  vast  gulf,  fifteen  hundred  feet  deep,  and  from 
eight  to  ten  miles  in  circumference,  whose  bottom  is  the  seat 
of  the  most  remarkable  volcano  on  the  globe;  —  I  mean 
Kilauea.  Wait  here  till  night  closes  around  us,  and  we  shall 
witness  a  scene  of  awful  sublimity.      Over   the    immense 


VOLCANO    OF    KILAUEA.  197 

area  of  that  gulf  will  the  volcanic  agency  beneath  be  exerted. 
Ever  and  anon,  and  mingling  in  strange  discord,  will  hissings 
and  groanings,  mutterings  and  thunderings,  be  heard  rolling 
from  side  to  side,  and  making  the  earth  tremble  around. 
Then  from  one  and  another  volcanic  cone  —  perhaps  from 
fifty  —  will  the  glowing  lava  burst  forth ;  red-hot  stones  will 
be  driven  furiously  upward  ;  vapor,  and  smoke,  and  flames 
will  be  poured  out,  and  the  dark  and  jagged  sides  of  that  vast 
furnace  will  glow  with  unearthly  splendor;  and  here  and 
there  will  lakes  of  liquid  lava  appear,  one  or  two  miles  in 
extent,  heaving  up  their  billows,  and  dashing  their  fiery  spray 
high  into  the  air,  O,  there  is  not  on  earth  a  livelier  emblem 
of  the  world  of  despair ;  and  yet  we  know  it  is  not  the  lake 
which  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone,  nor  the  abode  of  lost 
spirits.  We  know  it  to  be  only  one  of  the  safety-valves  of 
our  globe,  and  an  exhibition  of  that  mighty  agency  within 
the  globe  which  has  heaved  and  dislocated  its  crust ;  and, 
therefore,  as  we  gaze  upon  the  scene,  and  forget  our  fatigue 
and  sleep,  we  experience  only  the  emotions  of  awful  sublim- 
ity, which  can  hardly  fail  to  rise  into  adoration  of  that  infinite 
Being  who  can  say,  even  to  this  agency,  Thus  far  shalt  thou 
go,  and  no  farther. 

These  are  samples  only  of  those  delightful  emotions 
which  he  experiences,  who  possesses  a  taste  for  natural 
scenery.  And  kindred  emotions  will  be  awakened  within 
him,  wherever  he  wanders  among  the  works  of  God.  They 
form  some  of  the  purest  and  most  satisfying  pleasures  which 
this  world  affords.  They  constitute  pleasant  oases  along 
the  dreary  journey  of  life ;  and  so  deeply  does  memory 
engrave  them  on  her  tablet,  that  no  change  of  time  or  cir- 
cumstances can  hide  them  from  our  view.  Now,  it  is  obvi- 
ous that  if  the  Author  of  nature  and  of  the  human  soul  had 
17* 


198  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

been  malevolent,  instead  of  making  every  thing  which  man 
meets  in  creation  "beauty  to  his  eye,  and  music  to  his  ear,"  he 
would  have  made  all  offensive  and  painful.  Instead  of  the  de- 
lightful emotions  of  beauty  and  sublimity  which  now  rise  within 
us  as  we  open  our  eyes  upon  nature,  feelings  of  aversion  and 
fear  would  haunt  us.  Every  sound  would  have  been  discord- 
ant, and  every  sight  terrific.  He  could  not  have  been  even 
indifferent  to  our  happiness,  when  he  commissioned  those  des- 
olating agencies  of  nature,  fire  and  water,  to  ridge  up  and 
furrow  out  the  earth's  surface  as  the  groundwork  of  the  future 
landscape.  For  he  has  taken  care  that  the  result  should  be  a 
scene  productive  of  pleasure  only  to  the  soul  that  is  in  a 
healthy  state.  Benevolence  only,  infinite  benevolence,  could 
have  done  this. 

My  third  argument  in  favor  of  the  divine  benevolence  is 
founded  on  the  arrangements  for  the  distribution  of  water  on 
the  globe. 

We  should  expect  on  so  uneven  a  surface  as  the  earth  pre- 
sents, that  this  element,  which  forms  the  liquid  nourishment 
of  all  organic  life,  and  which  in  many  other  ways  seems  in- 
dispensable, must  be  very  unequally  distributed,  and  fail  en- 
tirely in  many  places  ;  and  yet  we  find  it  in  almost  every  spot 
where  man  erects  his  habitation.  And  those  places  where 
there  is  a  deficiency  are  usually  extended  plains ;  not,  as  we 
should  expect,  the  mountainous  regions.  The  latter  are  usu- 
ally well  watered  ;  and  this  is  accomplished  in  three  ways. 
In  the  first  place,  in  most  mountainous  countries,  the  strata 
are  so  much  tilted  up,  as  to  prevent  the  water  from  running 
off.  In  the  second  place,  the  pervious  strata  are  frequently 
interrupted  by  faults  sometimes  filled  by  impervious  matter. 
In  the  third  place,  the  comminuted  materials  that  cover  the 
rocks  as  soils,  are  often  so  fine,  or  of  such  a  nature,  as  to 


ARTESIAN    WELLS.  199 

prevent  the  passage  of  water;  and  thus  much  of  the  water 
that  falls  upon  elevated  land  remains  there,  while  enough 
percolates  through  the  pervious  materials  to  water  the  valleys 
and  supply  the  streams.  These  carry  it  to  the  lakes  and  the 
ocean,  where  it  is  returned  by  evaporation  in  the  form  of 
clouds,  and  thus  an  admirable  system  of  circulation  is  kept 
up,  whereby  this  essential  element  is  purified,  and  conveyed 
to  every  part  of  the  surface  where  man  or  beast  require  it. 

There  is  one  recent  discovery,  which  deserves  notice  here, 
because  it  depends  upon  the  geological  structure  of  the  earth. 
When  pervious  and  impervious  strata  alternate,  and  are  con- 
siderably inclined,  water  may  be  brought  from  great  depths 
by  hydrostatic  pressure,  if  the  impervious  stratum  be  bored 
through  and  the  water-bearing  deposit  be  reached.  A  per- 
petual fountain  may  thus  be  produced,  and  water  be  obtained 
in  a  region  naturally  deficient  in  it.  An  Artesian  fountain 
of  this  description,  in  the  suburbs  of  Paris,  has  been  brought 
from  the  enormous  depth  of  eighteen  hundred  feet !  * 

Now,  just  consider  that  to  deprive  the  earth  of  water  is  to 
deprive  it  of  inhabitants,  and  you  cannot  but  see  in  the 
means  by  which  it  is  so  widely,  nay,  almost  universally,  dif- 
fused, and  made  to  circulate  for  purification,  —  the  most  de- 
cided marks  of  divine  benevolence.  Why  is  it  not  as  strik- 
ing as  the  curious  means  by  which  the  blood  and  the  sap  of 
animals  and  plants  are  sent  to  every  part  of  the  system  to 
supply  its  waste,  and  give  it  greater  development  ? 

*  In  September,  1850,  I  visited  this  well,  and  found  the  water  run- 
ning still,  at  the  rate  of  six  hundred  and  sixty  gallons  per  minute  at 
the  surface,  and  half  that  amount  at  the  top  of  a  tube  one  hundred 
and  twelve  feet  high,  from  whence  it  could  be  carried  to  any  part  of 
Paris  ;  and,  in  fact,  does  supply  some  of  the  streets.  I  tasted  the 
water,  and  found  it  pleasant,  though  warm,  (84  deg.  Fahrenheit.) 


200  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

I  derive  a  fourth  geological  argument  for  the  benevolence 
of  the  Deity ^  from  the  manner  in  ivhich  the  metallic  ores  are 
distributed  through  the  earth^s  crust. 

It  can  hardly  be  doubted,  by  the  geologist,  that  nearly  every 
part  of  the  earth's  crust,  and  its  interior  too,  have  been  some 
time  or  other  in  a  melted  state.  Now,  as  the  metals  and  their 
ores  are  usually  heavier  than  other  rocks,  we  should  expect 
that  they  would  have  accumulated  at  the  centre  of  the  globe, 
and  have  been  enveloped  by  the  rocks  so  as  to  have  been 
forever  inaccessible  to  man.  And  the  very  great  weight  of 
the  central  parts  of  the  earth  —  almost  twice  that  of  granite  — 
leads  naturally  to  the  conclusion  that  the  heavier  metals  may 
be  accumulated  there,  though  this  is  by  no  means  a  certain 
conclusion  ;  since  at  the  depth  of  thirty- four  miles  air  would 
be  so  condensed  by  the  pressure  of  the  superincumbent  mass 
as  to  be  as  heavy  as  water  ;  water  at  the  depth  of  three  hun- 
dred and  sixty-two  miles  would  become  as  heavy  as  quick- 
silver ;  and  at  the  centre  steel  would  be  compressed  into  one 
fourth,  and  stone  into  one  eighth,  of  its  bulk  at  the  surface. 
Still  it  is  most  probable  that  the  materials  naturally  the  heav- 
iest would  first  seek  the  centre.  And  yet,  by  means  of  sub- 
limation, and  expansion  by  internal  heat,  or  the  segregating 
power  of  galvanic  action,  or  of  some  other  agents,  enough  of 
the  metals  is  protruded  towards  the  surface,  and  diffused 
through  the  rocks  in  beds,  or  veins,  so  as  to  be  accessible  to 
human  industry.  Here,  then,  we  find  divine  benevolence, 
apparently  in  opposition  to  gravity,  providing  for  human 
comfort. 

I  have  said  that  these  metals  were  accessible  to  human  in- 
dustry. And  it  does  require  a  great  deal  of  labor,  and  calls 
into  exercise  man's  highest  ingenuity  to  obtain  them.  They 
might  have  been  spread  in  immense  masses  over  the  surface  ; 


DISTRIBUTION    OF    THE    METALS.  201 

they  might  all  have  been  reduced  to  a  metallic  state  in  the 
great  furnace,  which  we  have  reason  to  suppose  is  always 
in  blast,  within  the  earth.  But  then  there  would  have  been 
no  requisition  upon  the  exertion  and  energy  of  man.  And  to 
have  these  called  into  exercise  is  an  object  of  greater  impor- 
tance to  society  than  to  supply  it  with  the  metals.  God,  there- 
fore, has  so  distributed  the  ores  as  to  stimulate  man  to  explore 
and  reduce  them,  while  he  has  placed  so  many  difficulties  in 
the  way  as  to  demand  much  mental  and  physical  effijrt  for 
their  removal.  Man  now,  therefore,  receives  a  double  benefit. 
While  the  metals  themselves  are  of  immense  service,  the  dis- 
cipline of  body  and  mind  requisite  for  obtaining  them  is  of 
still  greater  value.  This  is  the  combined  result  of  infinite 
wisdom  and  benevolence. 

If  I  mistake  not,  there  is  such  a  relation  between  the  amount 
of  useful  metals  and  the  wants  of  society  as  could  have  re- 
sulted only  from  divine  benevolence.  The  metal  most  widely 
diffused,  and  the  only  one  occurring  in  all  the  rock  forma- 
tions, from  the  oldest  to  the  newest,  is  iron  ;  —  the  metal  by  far 
the  most  important  to  civilized  society.  This  is  also  by  far 
the  most  abundant,  and  easily  obtained.  It  often  forms  ex- 
tensive beds,  or  even  mountain  masses  upon  the  surface.  All 
the  other  metals  are  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the  older 
rocks.  Among  them,  lead,  copper,  and  zinc  are  probably 
most  needed,  and  accordingly  they  are  next  in  quantity  and 
in  the  facility  with  W'hich  they  may  be  explored.  Manganese, 
mercury,  chrome,  antimony,  cobalt,  arsenic,  and  bismuth  are 
more  difficult  to  obtain  ;  but  the  supply  is  always  equal  to  the 
demand.  In  the  case  of  tin,  silver,  platinum,  and  gold,  we 
find  some  interesting  properties  to  compensate  in  a  great 
measure  for  their  scarcity.  Gold  and  platinum  possess  a  re- 
markable power  of  resisting  those  powerful  agents  of  chemical 


202  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

change  which  destroy  every  thing  else.  They  are  never  oxi- 
dized in  the  earth,  and  with  a  very  few  exceptions,  the  most 
powerful  reagents  leave  them  untouched,  while  platinum  will 
not  yield  in  the  most  powerful  heat  of  the  furnace.  Gold, 
silver,  and  tin  are  capable  of  an  astonishing  extension,  whereby 
they  may  be  spread  over  the  surface  of  the  more  abundant 
metals  to  protect  and  adorn  them  ;  and  since  the  discovery  of 
the  galvanic  mode  of  accomplishing  this,  so  easily  is  it  done, 
that  I  know  not  but  a  gold  or  silver  surface  is  to  become  as 
common  as  metallic  articles. 

My  fifth  geological  argument  for  the  divine  benevolence  is 
derived  from  the  joint  and  desolating  effects  of  ice  and  water 
upon  the  earth^s  surface,  both  before  and  after  man''s  creation. 

In  northern  countries,  and  perhaps  in  high  southern  lati- 
tudes, it  seems  that  after  the  deposition  of  the  tertiary  rocks, 
and  after  the  surface  had  assumed  essentially  its  present  shape, 
it  was  subjected  for  a  long  time  to  a  powerful  agency,  whereby 
the  rough  and  salient  parts  were  worn  down  and  rounded,  the 
rocks  in  place  smoothed  and  furrowed,  valleys  scooped  out, 
huge  blocks  of  stone  transported  far  from  the  parent  bed,  piled 
up,  and  thick  accumulations  of  bowlders,  sand,  and  gravel, 
strewn  promiscuously  over  the  surface.  At  the  commence- 
ment of  this  process,  the  ocean,  probably  loaded  with  ice, 
stood  above  a  large  part  of  the  present  continents.  It  sOon 
began  to  subside,  or  the  land  to  rise,  and  a  more  quiet  action 
succeeded.  The  joint  action  of  the  ocean  and  the  glaciers  on 
the  land  ground  down  into  sand,  clay,  and  loam,  the  coarser 
drift,  and  sorted  it  in  the  form  of  beaches,  terraces,  and  allu- 
vial deposits.  All  this  while,  both  the  land  and  the  water 
seem  to  have  been,  for  the  most  part,  destitute  of  inhabitants. 
But  these  were  the  very  processes  needed  for  man  and  his 
contemporary  races,  who  were  to  appear  during  the  latter  part 


DRIFT    AGENCY.  203 

of  the  pleistocene  period.  In  other  words,  the  soils  were  thus 
got  ready  for  nourishing  the  vegetation  necessary  to  sustain 
the  new  creation,  which  would  convert  these  desolate  and 
deserted  sea-beds  into  regions  of  fertility  and  happiness  to 
teeming  millions. 

Now,  just  consider  what  must  have  been  the  effect  of  these 
mighty  aqueous  and  glacial  agencies  upon  the  earth's  surface. 
Over  the  level  regions  they  strewed  the  finer  materials ;  and 
where  the  rocks  had  been  thrown  up  into  ridges  and  displaced 
by  numerous  fissures,  or  subsequently  worn  into  bluffs  and 
precipices  by  the  ocean,  it  needed  just  such  an  agency  to 
smooth  down  those  irregularities,  to  fill  up  those  gulfs,  to  give 
to  the  hills  and  valleys  a  graceful  outline,  and  to  cover  all  the 
surface  with  those  comminuted  materials  that  would  need 
only  cultivation  to  make  them  a  fertile  soil.  Some  rocks  do, 
indeed,  decompose  and  form  soils ;  but  this  process  would  be 
too  slow,  unless  in  moist  and  warm  regions,  where  it  is  easier 
to  find  a  footing  for  plants  than  in  climes  more  uncongenial 
to  their  growth.  We  cannot  then  hesitate  to  regard  this  tre- 
mendous agency  of  ice  and  water  in  northern  and  high  south- 
ern regions  as  decidedly  beneficial  in  its  influence.  It  must, 
indeed,  have  spread  terrible  destruction  over  those  regions. 
But  it  seems  that  a  time  was  chosen  for  its  operation  when 
the  globe  was  almost  destitute  of  or^nic  life,  and  not  long 
before  the  time  when  a  new  and  nobler  creation  than  those 
previously  occupying  the  earth  was  to  be  placed  upon  it. 
Desolating  as  this  agency  must  have  appeared,  and  actually 
was,  at  the  time,  yet  who  can  doubt,  when  we  see  the  ulti- 
mate fruits  of  it,  that  its  origin  was  divine  benevolence  ? 

In  the  ultimate  results  of  aqueous  inundations  at  the  present 
day,  we  can  trace  the  same  benevolent  design.  Those  floods 
do,  indeed,  produce  partial  evils  ;  nay,  life, as  well  as  property. 


204  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

often  falls  a  prey  to  them.  But  they  produce  those  alluvial  soils 
which  are  more  prolific  of  vegetation  than  any  other  on  the 
globe.  Who  has  not  heard  of  the  fertility  of  the  banks  of  the 
Nile,  the  Niger,  the  Ganges,  the  Amazon,  and  the  Mississippi  ? 
all  of  them  the  fruit  of  inundations.  Truly,  such  floods  as 
these  may  be  said  to  clap  their  hands  in  praise  of  the  divine 
goodness. 

My  sixth  geological  argument  for  the  divine  benevolence  is 
derived  from  the  existence  of  volcanoes. 

The  first  impression  made  on  the  mind  by  the  history  of 
volcanic  action  is,  that  its  effects  are  examples  rather  of  vin- 
dictive justice  than  of  benevolence.  And  such  is  the  light  in 
which  they  are  regarded  by  Mr.  Gisborne,  an  able  English 
divine,  in  his  "  Testimony  of  Natural  to  Revealed  Religion."" 
He  looks,  indeed,  upon  all  the  disturbances  that  have  taken 
place  in  the  earth's  crust  as  evidence  of  a  fallen  condition  of 
the  world,  as  mementoes  of  a  former  penal  infliction  upon  a 
guilty  race.  And  aside  from  the  light  which  geology  casts 
upon  the  subject,  this  would  be  a  not  improbable  conclusion. 
Take  for  an  example  the  case  of  volcanoes  and  earthquakes. 

A  volcano  is  an  opening  made  in  the  earth's  crust  by  in- 
ternal heat,  which  has  forced  melted  or  heated  matter  through 
the  vent.  An  earthquake  is  the  effect  of  the  confined  gases 
and  vapors,  produced  by  the  heat  upon  the  crust.  When  the 
volcano,  therefore,  gets  vent,  the  earthquake  always  ceases. 
But  the  latter  has  generally  been  more  destructive  of  life  and 
property  than  the  former.  Where  one  city  has  been  de- 
stroyed by  lava,  like  Herculaneum,  Pompeii,  and  Stabiae,  twenty 
have  been  shaken  down  by  the  rocking  and  heaving  of  earth- 
quakes. The  records  of  ancient  as  well  as  modern  times 
abound  with  examples  of  these  tremendous  catastrophes. 
Preeminent  on  the  list  is  the  city  of  Antioch.     Imagine  the 


EARTHQUAKES.  205 

inhabitants  of  that  great  city,  crowded  with  strangers  on  a 
festival  occasion,  suddenly  arrested  on  a  calm  day,  by  the 
earth  heaving  and  rocking  beneath  their  feet ;  and  in  a  few 
moments  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  of  them  are  buried 
by  falling  houses,  or  the  earth  opening  and  swallowing  them 
up.  Such  was  the  scene  which  that  city  presented  in  the  year 
526  ;  and  several  times  before  and  since  that  period  has  the 
like  calamity  fallen  upon  it ;  and  twenty,  forty,  and  sixty 
thousand  of  its  inhabitants  have  been  destroyed  at  each  time. 
In  the  year  17  after  Christ,  no  less  than  thirteen  cities  of  Asia 
Minor  were  in  like  manner  overwhelmed  in  a  single  night. 
Think  of  the  terrible  destruction  that  came  upon  Lisbon  in 
1755.  The  sun  had  just  dissipated  the  fog  in  a  warm,  calm 
morning,  when  suddenly  the  subterranean  thundering  and 
heaving  began  ;  and  in  six  minutes  the  city  was  a  heap  of  ruins, 
and  sixty  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  were  numbered  among  the 
dead.  Hundreds  had  crowded  upon  a  new  quay  surrounded 
by  vessels.  In  a  moment  the  earth  opened  beneath  them,  and 
the  wharf,  the  vessels,  and  the  crowd  went  down  into  its 
bosom  ;  the  gulf  closed,  the  sea  rolled  over  the  spot,  and  no 
vestige  of  wharf,  vessels,  or  man  ever  floated  to  the  surface. 
How  thrilling  is  the  account  left  us  by  Kircher,  who  was  near, 
of  the  destruction  of  Euphemia,  in  Calabria,  a  city  of  about 
five  thousand  inhabitants,  in  the  year  1638  !  "  After  some 
time,"  says  he,  "  the  violent  paroxysm  of  the  earthquake 
ceasing,  I  stood  up,  and,  turning  my  eyes  to  look  for  Euphemia, 
saw  only  a  frightful  black  cloud.  We  waited  till  it  had  passed 
away,  when  nothing  but  a  dismal  and  putrid  lake  was  to  be 
seen  where  the  city  once  stood,"  In  like  manner  did  Port 
Royal,  in  the  West  Indies,  sink  beneath  the  waters,  with  nearly 
all  its  inhabitants,  in  less  than  one  minute,  in  the  year  1692. 
Still  more  awful,  though  usually  less  destructive,  is  often 
18 


206  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

the  scene  presented  by  a  volcanic  eruption.  Imagine  your- 
selves, for  instance,  upon  one  of  the  wide,  elevated  plains  of 
Mexico,  far  from  the  fear  of  volcanoes.  The  earth  begins  to 
quake  under  your  feet,  and  the  most  alarming  subterranean 
noises  admonish  you  of  a  mighty  power  within  the  earth  that 
must  soon  have  vent.  You  flee  to  the  surrounding  mountains 
in  time  to  look  back  and  see  ten  square  miles  of  the  plain 
swell  up,  like  a  bladder,  to  the  height  of  five  hundred  feet,  while 
numerous  smaller  cones  rise  from  the  surface  still  higher,  and 
emit  smoke  ;  and  in  their  midst,  six  mountains  are  thrown  up 
to  the  height,  some  of  them  at  least,  of  sixteen  hundred  feet, 
and  pour  forth  melted  lava,  turning  rivers  out  of  their  course, 
and  spreading  terrific  desolation  over  a  late  fertile  plain,  and 
forever  excluding  its  former  inhabitants.  Such  was  the  erup- 
tion, by  which  JoruUo,  in  Mexico,  was  suddenly  thrown  up, 
in  1759. 

Still  more  terrific  have  been  some  of  the  eruptions  in  Ice- 
land. In  1783,  earthquakes  of  tremendous  power  shook  the 
whole  island,  and  flames  burst  forth  from  the  ocean.  In  June 
these  ceased,  and  Skaptar  Jokul  opened  its  mouth  ;  nor  did  it 
close  till  it  had  poured  forth  two  streams  of  lava,  one  sixty 
miles  long,  twelve  miles  broad,  and  the  other  forty  miles  long, 
and  seven  broad,  and  both  with  an  average  thickness  of  one 
hundred  feet.  During  that  summer  the  inhabitants  saw  the 
sun  no  more,  and  all  Europe  was  covered  with  a  haze. 

Around  the  Papandayang,  one  of  the  loftiest  mountains  in 
Java,  no  less  than  forty  villages  were  reposing  in  peace. 
But  in  August,  1772,  a  remarkable  luminous  cloud  enveloping 
its  top  aroused  them  from  their  security.  But  it  was  too  late. 
For  at  once  the  mountain  began  to  sink  into  the  earth,  and 
soon  it  had  disappeared  with  the  forty  villages,  and  most  of 
the  inhabitants,  over  a  space  fifteen  miles  long  and  six  broad. 


ERUPTION    IN    SUMBAWA.  207 

Still  more  extraordinary  —  the  most  remarkable  on  record 
—  was  an  eruption  in  Sumbavva,  one  of  the  Molucca  Islands, 
in  1815.  It  began  on  the  fifth  day  of  April,  and  did  not 
cease  till  July.  The  explosions  were  heard  in  one  direction 
nine  hundred  and  seventy  miles,  and  in  another  seven  hun- 
dred and  twenty  miles.  So  heavy  was  the  fall  of  ashes  at 
the  distance  of  forty  miles  that  houses  were  crushed  and 
destroyed.  The  floating  cinders  in  the  ocean,  hundreds  of 
miles  distant,  were  two  feet  thick,  and  vessels  were  forced 
through  them  with  difficulty.  The  darkness  in  Java,  three 
hundred  miles  distant,  was  deeper  than  the  blackest  night ; 
and  finally,  out  of  the  twelve  thousand  inhabitants  of  the 
island,  only  twenty-six  survived  the  catastrophe. 

Now,  if  we  confine  our  views  to  such  facts  as  these,  we  can 
hardly  avoid  the  conclusion  that  earthquakes  and  volcanoes 
are  terrific  exhibitions  of  God's  displeasure  towards  a  fallen 
and  guilty  world.  But  if  it  can  be  shown  that  the  volcanic 
agency  exerts  a  salutary  influence  in  preserving  the  globe 
from  ruin,  nay,  is  essential  to  such  preservation,  we  must 
regard  its  incidental  destruction  of  property  and  life  as  no 
evidence  of  a  vindictive  infliction,  nor  of  the  want  of  benevo- 
lence in  its  operation.  And  the  remarkable  proofs  which 
modern  geology  has  presented  of  vast  accumulations  of 
heated  and  melted  matter  beneath  the  earth's  crust,  do  make 
such  an  agent  as  volcanoes  essential  to  the  preservation  of 
the  globe.  In  order  to  make  out  this  position,  I  shall  not 
contend  that  all  the  earth's  interior,  beneath  fifty  or  one  hun- 
dred miles,  is  in  a  state  of  fusion.  For  even  the  most  able 
and  decided  of  those  geologists  who  object  to  such  an  infer- 
ence, admit  that  oceans  of  melted  matter  do  exist  beneath  the 
surface.  And  if  so,  how  liable  would  vast  accumulations  of 
heat  be,  if  there  were  no  safety-valves  through  the  crust,  to 


208  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

rend  asunder  even  a  whole  continent  ?  Volcanoes  are  those 
safety-valves,  and  more  than  two  hundred  of  them  are  scat- 
tered over  the  earth's  surface,  forming  vent-holes  into  the 
heated  interior.  Most  of  them,  indeed,  have  the  valves 
loaded,  and  the  effort  of  the  confined  gases  and  vapors  to 
lift  the  load  produces  the  terrific  phenomena  of  earthquakes 
and  volcanoes.  But  if  no  such  passages  into  the  interior  ex- 
isted, what  could  prevent  the  pent-up  gases  from  accumulat- 
ing till  they  had  gained  strength  enough  to  rend  a  whole  con- 
tinent, and  perhaps  the  whole  globe,  into  fragments  ?  Is  it 
not,  then,  benevolence  by  which  this  agency  prevents  so 
dreadful  a  catastrophe,  even  by  means  that  bring  some  inci- 
dental evils  along  with  them  ? 

Some  able  writers  do,  indeed,  object  to  the  idea  that  volca- 
noes are  safety-valves  to  the  globe,  deriving  their  objections 
from  certain  facts  respecting  the  position  of  volcanic  craters 
in  the  Sandwich  Islands,  if  I  do  not  misrecollect.  Without 
going  into  the  details  of  that  case,  for  want  of  time  and 
space,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  facts  respecting  the  connection 
between  earthquakes  and  volcanoes,  admitted  by  all,  will  jus- 
tify such  a  view  of  the  latter  as  is  expressed  by  the  term 
"  safety-valves."  For  earthquakes  are  but  the  incipient 
effects  of  the  volcanic  force  within  the  globe  ;  and  if  these 
effects  have  been  so  terrible  at  the  beginning,  what  must  be 
the  full  exhibition  of  that  force,  if  not  able  to  find  a  passage 
for  the  struggling  gases  and  lava  through  the  strata  above 
them  ?  Who  can  say  that  it  might  not  rend  a  continent 
asunder,  and,  if  deep  enough  seated,  even  the  whole  globe  ? 

The  question  will  undoubtedly  be  asked  by  every  reflecting 
mind,  why  infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence  could  not  have 
devised  a  plan  for  securing  the  good  resulting  from  volcanoes 
and    earthquakes   without   the   attendant    evils.      The   same 


WHY    IS    EVIL    PERMITTED?  209 

question  meets  us  at  almost  every  step  of  our  examination  of 
the  present  system  of  the  world.  For  we  every  where  meet 
with  evil,  incidentally  connected  with  agencies  whose  pre- 
dominant effects  are  beneficial.  I  incline  to  the  opinion,  that 
the  true  answer  to  this  question  is,  that  the  evil  is  permitted 
that  thereby  greater  good  may  be  secured  to  the  universe. 
Still  the  subject  of  the  origin  of  evil  is  one  whose  full  solu- 
tion can  hardly  be  expected  in  the  present  world,  because  we 
cannot  here  master  all  its  elements.  When  it  can  be  solved, 
we  can  tell  why  so  much  desolation  and  suffering  are  per- 
mitted to  accompany  the  earthquake  and  the  volcano.  But 
if  we  can  show  that  benefits  far  outweighing  the  evil  are  the 
result  of  this  terrific  agency,  we  gather  from  it  decided  evi- 
dence of  the  divine  benevolence  ;  —  the  same  evidence  which 
we  gain  from  any  other  operations  of  nature  ;  for  in  them 
all  there  is  only  a  preponderance  of  good,  not  unmixed 
good.  The  desolation  of  this  fair  world  by  volcanic  agency, 
and  especially  the  destruction  of  life,  do,  indeed,  teach  us 
that  this  present  system  of  nature  is  adapted  to  a  state  of 
probation  and  death,  instead  of  a  state  of  rewards  and  im- 
mortal life.  It  is  adapted  to  sinful  and  fallen  beings,  rather 
than  to  those  who  are  perfect  in  holiness  and  in  happiness. 
In  short,  it  is  earth,  not  heaven.  It  is  not  such  a  world  as 
heaven  must  be,  to  secure  unalloyed  and  eternal  happiness. 
Nevertheless,  benevolence  decidedly  predominates  in  the 
arrangements  of  the  present  system,  even  in  the  desolating 
agency  under  consideration.  I  do  not  deny  that  God  may 
sometimes  employ  this  agency,  as  he  may  every  other  in 
nature,  for  the  punishment  of  the  guilty.  But  before  we 
infer  that  this  is  the  general  use  and  design  of  volcanoes  and 
earthquakes,  we  should  ponder  well  the  questions  put  by  our 
Savior  to  some  that  told  him  of  the  Galileans,  whose  hlood 
18* 


210  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

Pilate  had  mingled  with  their  sacrifices.  Suppose  ye,  answered 
the  Savior,  that  these  Galileans  were  sinners  above  all  the 
Galileans,  because  they  suffered  such  things  ?  I  tell  you  nay. 
Or  those  eighteen,  upon  whom  the  tower  of  Siloam  fell  and 
slew  them,  think  ye  that  they  loere  sinners  above  all  men  that 
dwelt  in  Jerusalem  ?  /  tell  you  nay.  Let  us  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  Jesus  Christ,  and  take  a  more  enlarged  view  of 
these  startling  and  distressing  events.  Let  us  inquire  whether 
they  are  not  the  incidental  effects  of  agencies  essential  to  the 
permanence  and  happiness  of  the  great  system  of  the  uni- 
verse. This  is  certainly  the  case  in  regard  to  volcanoes. 
We  have  strong  reason  to  believe  that  they  are  essential  to 
the  preservation  of  the  globe  ;  and  of  how  much  higher  con- 
sequence is  this  than  the  comparatively  small  amount  of 
property  and  life  which  they  destroy !  If  we  can  only  rise  to 
these  higher  views,  and  not  suffer  our  judgment  to  be  warped 
by  the  immediate  terrors  of  the  earthquake  and  the  volcano, 
we  shall  see  the  smile  of  infinite  benevolence  where  most 
men  see  only  the  wrath  of  an  offended  Deity. 

My  seventh  geological  argument  for  the  divine  benevolence 
is  derived  from  the  manner  in  which  coal,  rock  salt,  marble, 
gypsum,  and  other  valuable  materials  were  prepared  for  the 
use  of  man,  long  before  his  existence. 

If  a  created  and  intelligent  being  from  some  other  sphere 
had  alighted  on  this  globe  during  that  remote  period  when 
the  vegetation  now  dug  out  of  the  coal  formation  covered  the 
surface  with  its  gigantic  growth,  he  might  have  felt  as  if  here 
was  a  waste  of  creative  power.  Vast  forests  of  sigillaria, 
lepidodendra,  coniferse,  cycadeae,  and  tree  ferns  would  have 
waved  over  his  head,  with  their  imposing  though  sombre  foli- 
age, while  the  lesser  tribes  of  calamites  and  equisetacese 
would   have   filled   the   intervening  spaces  ;  but  no  vertebral 


PROSPECTIVE    BENEVOLENCE.  211 

animal  would  have  been  there  to  enjoy  and  enliven  the  almost 
universal  solitude.  Why,  then,  he  must  have  inquired,  is 
there  such  a  profusion  of  vegetable  forms,  and  such  a  colos- 
sal development  of  individual  plants  ?  To  what  use  can 
such  vast  forests  be  applied  ?  But  let  ages  roll  by,  and  that 
same  being  revisit  our  world  at  the  present  time.  Let  him 
traverse  the  little  Island  of  Britain,  and  see  there  fifteen  thou- 
sand steam  engines  moved  by  coal  dug  out  of  the  earth,  and 
produced  by  these  same  ancient  forests.  Let  him  see  these 
engines  performing  the  work  of  two  millions  of  men,  and 
moving  machinery  which  accomplishes  what  would  require 
the  unaided  labors  of  three  or  four  hundred  millions  of  men, 
and  he  could  not  doubt  but  such  a  result  was  one  of  the  ob- 
jects of  that  rank  vegetation  which  covered  the  earth  ere  it 
was  fit  for  the  residence  of  such  natures  as  now  dwell  upon 
it.  Let  him  go  to  the  coal  fields  of  other  countries,  and 
especially  those  of  the  United  States,  stretching  over  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  square  miles,  containing  a  quan- 
tity absolutely  inexhaustible,  and  already  imparting  comfort  to 
millions  of  the  inhabitants,  and  giving  life  and  energy  to 
every  variety  of  manufacture  through  the  almost  entire  length 
of  this  country,  and  destined  to  pour  out  their  wealth  through 
all  coming  time,  long  after  the  forests  shall  all  have  been 
levelled, —  and  irresistible  must  be  the  conviction  upon  his 
mind,  that  here  is  a  beautiful  example  of  prospective  benevo- 
lence on  the  part  of  the  Deity.  In  those  remote  ages,  while 
yet  the  earth  was  unfitted  for  the  higher  races  of  animals  that 
now  dwell  upon  it,  it  was  eminently  adapted  to  nourish  that 
gigantic  flora  which  would  produce  the  future  fuel  of  the 
human  race,  when  that  crown  of  all  God's  works  should  be 
placed  upon  the  earth.  Ere  that  time,  those  forests  must 
sink   beneath  the  ocean,  be  buried  beneath  deposits  of  rock 


212  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

thousands  of  feet  thick.  But  during  all  that  period,  all  those 
chemical  changes  which  are  essential  to  convert  them  into 
coal  would  be  accomplished,  and,  at  last,  man  would  find 
access,  by  his  ingenuity  and  industry,  to  the  deep-seated  beds 
whence  his  fuel  might  be  drawn.  Nor  would  these  vast 
repositories  fail  him  till  the  consummation  of  all  things. 
Surely  there  was  no  waste,  but  there  was  a  far-reaching  plan 
of  benevolence  in  the  profusion  of  vegetable  life  in  the  earlier 
periods  of  our  planet. 

Essentially  the  same  remark  will  apply  to  the  limestone, 
gypsum,  rock  salt,  and  several  other  mineral  products  of  the 
earth,  which  are  almost  indispensable  to  man  in  a  civilized 
state.  For  these,  too,  were  produced  by  slow  processes,  dur- 
ing those  vast  periods  of  duration  that  preceded  man's  exist- 
ence. Limestone  has  been  chiefly  elaborated  by  the  organs 
of  animals,  many  of  them  of  microscopic  littleness.  Yet 
lofty  ranges  of  mountains  and  immense  deposits  in  the  inter- 
vening valleys  have  been  the  result.  Nearly  one  seventh 
part  of  the  crust  of  the  globe,  it  has  been  said,  is  thus  consti- 
tuted of  the  works  or  remains  of  animals.  And  can  we  doubt 
but  that  these  rocks  are  thus  spread  over  the  surface  of  the 
globe  because  they  are  needed  by  all  mankind,  like  air  and 
water  ?  It  must  have  been  benevolence  that  so  arranged  the 
agencies  by  which  they  were  produced,  during  the  revolution 
of  primeval  ages,  that  they  have  this  wide  diffusion.  Gypsum 
and  fossil  salt  are  more  sparingly  diff'used  ;  but  still  enough 
is  always  to  be  found  to  meet  the  demand.  Nor  is  it  reason- 
able to  doubt  that  the  same  prospective  goodness  which  pro- 
vided for  coal  and  limestone,  commissioned  other  agencies  to 
lay  up  a  store  of  gypsum,  salt,  bitumen,  clay,  and  other  sub- 
stances dug  out  of  the  earth  for  man's  benefit. 

Ml/  eighth  geological  argument  for  the  divine  benevolence 


ADAPTATION  OF  ORGANIC  NATURES.         213 

is  based  upon  the  perfect  adaptation  of  the  natures  of  ani- 
mals and  plants  to  the  varying  condition  of  the  globe  through 
all  the  periods  of  its  past  history. 

The  very  slight  changes  in  climate,  situation,  and  food, 
that  will  destroy  most  species  of  animals  and  plants,  is  hard 
to  be  realized  by  man,  whose  nature  will  sustain  very  great 
changes  of  this  kind.  So  will  most  of  the  animals  and  plants 
that  have  been  domesticated  by  man,  and  which  accompany 
him  into  every  soil  and  climate.  But  the  great  mass  of  ani- 
mals and  plants  would  perish  by  such  a  transplantation.  They 
are  adapted  to  a  particular  region,  often  of  narrow  limits ; 
and  to  remove  them  from  thence,  even  to  one  slightly  diverse, 
is  to  cause  their  deterioration  and  final  destruction.  In  other 
words,  their  natures  are  exactly  adapted  to  the  place  of  hab- 
itation assigned  them.  And  it  must  have  required  infinite 
wisdom  thus  to  fit  the  delicate  machinery  of  animal  and 
vegetable  organization  to  the  great  variety  of  circumstances 
on  the  globe  in  which  it  is  placed.  But  we  find  that  same 
wisdom  to  have  been  manifested  in  all  the  vast  periods 
of  organic  life.  We  have  the  most  unequivocal  evidence 
that  the  condition  of  the  earth  has  undergone  important 
changes.  We  cannot  examine  the  remarkable  flora  and 
fauna  of  the  older  rocks,  the  gigantic  sauroid  fishes,  the  huge 
orthoceratites  and  ammonites,  the  heteroclitic  trilobites,  and 
the  strange  sigillaria  and  lepidodendra,  calamites  and  aster- 
ophyllites,  the  lofty  coniferse,  and  the  anomalous  cycadese, 
—  we  cannot  examine  these  without  realizing  that  a  state  of 
the  globe  very  different  from  the  present  must  have  existed 
when  they  had  possession  of  it.  And  when  we  contemplate 
also  the  enormous  saurians  and  batrachians  of  the  middle  sec- 
ondary rocks,  and  the  colossal  quadrupeds  of  the  tertiary 
strata,  we  cannot  doubt  that  a  tropical  or  an   ultra-tropical 


214  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

climate  must  have  prevailed  in  high  northern  latitudes  during 
their  existence.  We  perceive  that  there  has  been  a  gradual 
decrease  of  temperature  on  the  surface  from  the  earliest 
times.  In  each  successive  race  of  organized  beings  which 
have  been  placed  on  the  globe,  there  must  have  been,  there- 
fore, some  change  of  constitution  to  adapt  them  to  the  altered 
state  of  the  climate  and  productions  of  the  earth.  And  we 
find  this  alteration  to  have  been  always  made  with  consum- 
mate skill,  so  as  to  secure  the  most  complete  development 
of  organic  beings,  and  the  greatest  enjoyment  to  sensitive 
natures.  Malevolence  would  not  have  done  this  ;  for  it  might, 
with  infinite  knowledge  at  command,  have  filled  each  succes- 
sive period  of  the  world  with  natures  unadapted  to  the  muta- 
ble condition  of  things,  capable,  indeed,  of  a  prolonged 
existence,  not  to  enjoy,  but  only  to  suffer.  But  infinite 
benevolence  was  fitting  up  this  world  by  slow  secondary 
agencies  for  the  elevated  races  which  now  occupy  it,  especial- 
ly for  one  species,  rational  and  immortal ;  and  it  lavished  its 
kindness  and  wisdom  by  filling  the  world,  during  those  pre- 
paratory ages,  with  multitudes  of  happy  beings,  fitted  exactly 
to  each  altered  condition  of  the  air,  the  water,  and  the  soil. 

My  ninth  and  last  geological  argument  for  the  divine 
benevolence  is  founded  upon  the  per?nanence  and  security  of 
the  worlds  in  spite  of  the  mighty  chajiges  it  has  undergone, 
and  the  poicerful  agencies  to  which  it  is  now  subject. 

When  we  learn  from  the  records  of  geology,  as  they  are 
inscribed  upon  the  rocks,  how  numerous  and  thorough  have 
been  the  revolutions  of  the  surface  and  the  crust  of  the  globe 
in  past  ages  ;  how  often  and  how  long  the  present  dry  land 
has  been  alternately  above  and  beneath  the  ocean  ;  how  fre- 
quently the  crust  of  the  globe  has  been  fractured,  bent,  and 
dislocated,  —  now  lifted  upward,  and  now  thrown  downward, 


SECURITY    OF    THE    EARTH's    SURFACE.  215 

and  now  folded  by  lateral  pressure  ;  how  frequently  melted 
matter  has  been  forced  through  its  strata  and  through  its  fis- 
sures to  the  surface  ;  in  short,  how  every  particle  of  the  acces- 
sible portions  of  the  globe  has  undergone  entire  metamor- 
phoses; and  especially  when  we  recollect  what  strong  evi- 
dence there  is  that  oceans  of  liquid  matter  exist  beneath  the  solid 
crust,  and  that  probably  the  whole  interior  of  the  earth  is  in  that 
condition,  with  expansive  energy  sufficient  to  rend  the  globe 
into  fragments,  —  when  we  review  all  these  facts,  we  cannot 
but  feel  that  the  condition  of  the  surface  of  the  globe  must 
be  one  of  great  insecurity  and  liability  to  change.  But  it  is 
not  so.  On  the  contrary,  the  present  state  of  the  globe  is 
one  of  permanent  uniformity  and  entire  security,  except 
those  comparatively  slight  catastrophes  which  result  from 
earthquakes,  volcanoes,  and  local  deluges.  Even  the  climate 
has  experienced  no  general  change  within  historic  times,  and 
the  profound  mathematical  researches  of  Baron  Fourier  have 
demonstrated  that,  even  though  the  internal  parts  of  the  globe 
are  in  an  incandescent  state,  beneath  a  crust  thirty  or  forty 
miles,  the  temperature  at  the  surface  has  long  since  ceased 
to  be  affected  by  the  melted  central  mass  ;  that  it  is  not  now 
more  than  one  seventeenth  of  a  degree  higher  than  it  would 
be  if  the  interior  were  ice  ;  and  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
years  will  not  see  it  lowered,  from  this  cause,  more  than  the 
seventeenth  part  of  a  degree.  And  as  to  the  apprehension 
that  the  entire  crust  of  the  globe  may  be  broken  through, 
and  fall  into  the  melted  matter  beneath,  just  reflect  what 
solidity  and  strength  there  must  be  in  a  mass  of  hard  rock 
from  fifty  to  one  hundred  miles  in  thickness,  and  your  fears 
of  such  a  catastrophe  will  probably  vanish. 

Now,  such  a  uniformity  of  climate  and  security  from  gen- 
eral ruin  are  essential  to  the  comfort  and  existence  of  animal 


216  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

nature.  But  it  must  have  required  infinite  wisdom  and  benev- 
olence SO  to  arrange  and  balance  the  mighty  elements  of 
change  and  ruin  which  exist  in  the  earth,  that  they  should 
hold  one  another  in  check,  and  make  the  world  a  quiet,  un- 
changed, and  secure  dwelling-place  for  so  many  thousands 
of  years.  Surely  that  wisdom  must  have  been  guided  by 
infinite  benevolence.  And  it  would  seem  from  geology  that 
the  same  union  of  wisdom  and  benevolence  have  always 
arranged  the  past  conditions  of  the  earth.  For,  during  each 
of  the  periods  of  organic  existence,  uniformity  and  security 
seem  to  have  prevailed  so  long  as  the  purposes  of  the  Deity 
required.  In  early  times,  indeed,  when  animals  were  mostly 
confined  to  the  waters,  it  was  not  necessary  that  the  dry  land 
should  be  as  exempt  as  at  present  from  catastrophes  ;  and 
probably  they  were  then  more  frequent ;  and  it  may  be  that, 
while  there  were  uniformity  and  security  in  one  portion  of  the 
globe,  or  in  one  element,  there  might  have  been  disturbance 
and  desolation  in  others.  And  it  is  doubtful  whether  such 
general  quiet  has  ever  prevailed  for  so  long  a  time  as 
during  the  present,  or  historic  period.  We  see  a  reason 
for  this  in  the  fact  that  never  before  wore  so  many  ani- 
mals in  existence,  with  a  structure  so  delicate  and  com- 
plicated. 

Such  are  the  evidences  of  divine  benevolence,  drawn  from 
a  field  at  first  view  most  unpromising.  And  yet,  when  we 
come  to  look  beyond  the  surface,  where  do  we  find  more  de- 
cisive or  more  numerous  indications  of  God's  beneficence  ? 
They  are  not  like  many  hasty  generalizations,  which  superfi- 
cial examination  has  often  brought  from  natural  phenomena 
in  proof  of  this  same  truth,  but  which,  although  beautiful  at 
first  view,  must  be  abandoned   upon  careful  research.     But 


UNEXPECTED    PROOFS    OF    BENEVOLENCE.  217 

these,  though  repulsive  at  first,  gain  solidity  and  beauty  by 
examination.  And  they  are  the  more  interesting  because 
they  come  from  an  unexpected  quarter.  Men  have  been 
accustomed  to  search  among  the  drift  piled  up  by  water  and 
ice,  among  dislocated  and  rent  strata  of  rocks,  among  moun- 
tains overturned  and  fields  made  desolate  by  volcanic  erup- 
tions, for  the  mementoes  of  penal  inflictions  ;  but  they  have 
not  imagined  that  divine  benevolence  might  be  seen  among 
these  disturbances  and  desolations  ;  and  that  simply  because 
they  confined  their  views  to  the  immediate  effect  of  geologi- 
cal agencies,  and  did  not  enlarge  their  views  to  take  in  their 
connection  with  the  great  system  of  the  universe.  But  now 
that  we  find  the  stamp  of  benevolence  even  here,  we  learn 
an  instructive  lesson.  Every  reflecting  mind  is  aware  that 
the  doctrine  of  divine  benevolence  lies  at  the  foundation  of 
all  natural  and  revealed  religion,  and  that  until  this  be  estab- 
lished we  labor  in  vain  to  erect  a  superstructure.  It  is  well 
known,  also,  that  the  existence  of  natural  and  moral  evil  has 
been  considered  a  strong  objection  to  this  great  truth.  Now, 
geology  furnishes  us  with  many  examples,  in  which  agencies, 
often  fraught  with  terrific  evils,  are  nevertheless  eminently 
beneficial  when  the  whole  extent  of  their  operation  is  taken 
into  account.  Why  is  it  not  a  fair  inference  that,  in  all  other 
cases  where  evils  stand  out  prominently,  they  are  only  inci- 
dental results  of  some  wide  system  of  operations,  of  which 
our  limited  vision  embraces  only  a  part,  but  whose  tenden- 
cies as  a  whole  are  eminently  salutary,  and  whose  incidental 
evils  do,  in  fact,  increase  the  salutary  effects  ?  If  so,  what 
reason  have  we  to  believe  that,  when  the  light  of  eternity 
shall  clarify  our  mental  eye,  and  enlarge  our  knowledge 
of  the  present  system  of  the  universe,  we  shall  find  all 
19 


218  GEOLOGICAL    PROOFS    OF    DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE. 

*'  partial  evil  to  be  universal  good,"  and  that  our  narrow 
views  alone  threw  obscurity  and  difficulty  over  this  subject 
in  this  life  ?  O,  if  even  here  so  many  rays  of  divine  love 
find  their  way  into  our  narrow  prison-house,  what  will  be 
their  brightness  when  they  pour  in  upon  us  from  the  unveiled 
glories  of  the  heavenly  world  ! 


(219) 


LECTURE     VII. 

DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE  AS   EXHIBITED    IN    A   FALLEN 
WORLD. 

The  geological  proofs  of  the  divine  benevolence  considered 
in  the  last  lecture  present  only  a  partial  view  of  that  glorious 
characteristic  of  Jehovah.  I  am  tempted,  therefore,  to  ex- 
hibit it  in  its  more  general  aspect  and  broader  relations. 
This  will  necessarily  bring  into  view  other  important  religious 
truths  respecting  man's  fallen  condition  and  character,  and, 
as  a  consequence,  the  modified  aspect  of  the  divine  goodness 
in  such  a  world. 

To  those  destitute  of  a  revelation  this  world  has,  indeed, 
ever  seemed  an  inextricable  maze,  an  enigma  too  dark  for 
human  wisdom  to  solve.  Nor  have  those  favored  with  the 
Bible  agreed  in  their  modes  of  clearing  up  the  mystery. 
Having  endeavored  to  explain  all  by  following  out  some  lead- 
ing and  favorite  idea,  their  theories  have  varied  as  these 
predominant  conceptions  differed.  One,  for  instance,  fixes 
his  gaze  so  intently  upon  the  divine  benevolence  that  he  is 
blind  to  every  manifestation  of  Jehovah's  sterner  attributes. 
Another,  deeply  impressed  with  the  story  of  man's  original 
apostasy,  sees  only  vindictive  justice,  and  penal  infliction,  and 
disordered  action,  in  all  the  movements  of  nature  and  the 
trials  and  sufferings  of  man.  A  third,  captivated  by  the  dis- 
coveries of  modern  geology,  relative  to  the  existence  of  suf- 
fering and  death  in  the  world  before  man's  creation,  and 


220  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A    FALLEN    WOKLD. 

learning,  nioreover,  from  physiology,  that  death  is  a  general 
law  of  all  organized  natures,  vegetable  as  well  as  animal,  is 
led  to  doubt  whether  the  disorders  of  the  world  have  any  im- 
portant connection  with  man's  apostasy. 

Now,  it  were  easy  to  show  that  our  views  on  these  subjects 
have  a  most  important  bearing  upon  our  entire  system  of  the- 
ology;  and,  therefore,  they  deserve  our  most  thorough  and 
candid  examination.  To  such  an  examination  I  now  invite 
your  serious  attention. 

It  is  not  my  object  to  appeal  to  the  Scriptures  to  prove  the 
divine  benevolence.  That  were  an  easy  task.  So,  were 
this  an  un fallen  world,  every  object  and  event  would  be  redo- 
lent of  God's  goodness.  But  where  sin  and  death  abound, 
that  goodness  must  assume  a  different  aspect,  since  its  un- 
mixed manifestation  would  work  mischief  Now,  the  point 
aimed  at  in  this  lecture  is  to  ascertain  whether  natural  reli- 
gion can  point  out  decisive  evidence  of  divine  benevolence. 
We  can  conceive  it  quite  possible  that  in  a  fallen  world  God 
might  find  it  necessary  so  to  mingle  displays  of  justice  with 
those  of  goodness,  that  man  might  be  in  doubt  which  pre- 
dominated. 

There  is  another  reason  for  considering  this  subject  apart 
from  scriptural  evidence.  We  need  to  establish  the  doctrine 
of  divine  benevolence  as  a  basis  on  which  to  rest  the  evi- 
dences of  inspiration ;  or,  rather,  we  want  to  be  able  to 
assume  God's  benevolence,  in  arguing  for  the  truth  of  the 
Bible,  and  in  judging  of  its  contents.  This  doctrine,  there- 
fore, is  one  of  the  most  important,  as  it  is  certainly  the  most 
difficult,  in  natural  theology. 

Obviously  the  first  step  in  this  investigation  must  be  to  as- 
certain what  is  the  real  state  of  this  world,  as  a  manifestation 
of  the  benevolence  and  justice  of  God.     In  other  words,  we 


BENEVOLENCE  PREDOMINATES.  221 

need  to  ascertain  what  exhibitions  of  these  attributes  are 
presented  to  us  in  nature,  and  in  the  economy  of  Providence, 
and  how  much  of  the  evil  in  the  world  is  to  be  imputed 
to  man's  perversion  of  the  gifts  of  God.  I  shall  proceed, 
therefore,  to  state  the  main  points  on  this  subject  which 
fair  and  candid  reasoning  seems  to  me  to  sustain.  When 
these  points  are  before  us,  with  a  summary  of  the  evidence 
by  which  they  are  supported,  we  shall  be  prepared  to  deduce 
important  conclusions  respecting  God's  character  and  dispen- 
sations, and  man's  position  and  destiny. 

In  the  first  place,  then,  I  maintain  that  benevolence  decid- 
edly predominates  in  the  present  system  of  the  world. 

Let  this  proposition  be  fully  understood.  It  does  not  mean 
that  there  is  no  mixture  of  evil  in  the  operations  of  nature, 
but  only  that  good  decidedly  overbalances  the  evil.  And  by 
the  operations  of  nature  I  mean  those  processes  resulting  from 
natural  laws,  which  are  uninfluenced  by  the  perverseness  of 
man.  How  much  of  evil  may  be  imputed  to  his  perversion 
of  the  gifts  of  Providence  will  be  considered  in  another  place, 
as  will  also  those  cases  in  which  evil  seems  inseparable  from 
the  original  arrangements  of  the  world.  All  that  I  am  now 
concerned  to  prove  is,  that,  in  a  vast  majority  of  instances, 
we  see  the  marks  of  benevolent  design  and  benevolent  oper- 
ation in  the  arrangements  of  nature. 

This  position  is  established,  in  the  first  place,  by  the  fact 
that  the  design  of  every  natural  contrivance  is  to  produce 
happiness. 

To  show  that  such  is  the  case,  by  an  appeal  to  facts,  would 

be,  in  truth,  to  write  the  history  of  every  natural  process,  and 

show  its  design.     But  it  will  be  sufficient  to  consider  only 

such  cases  as  appear  most  decidedly  to  militate  against  my 

19* 


222  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A    FALLEN    WORLD. 

position,  and  to  show  that  even  these  are  not  designed  to 
cause  evil  or  suffering. 

How  does  it  happen,  then,  you  may  inquire,  that  evil  is  the 
result  of  a  multitude  of  contrivances  and  processes  in  na- 
ture ?  It  is  an  incidental  effect,  I  answer  ;  that  is,  an  effect 
happening  aside  from  the  main  design  of  the  contrivance. 
Take  a  few  illustrations. 

No  one  can  doubt  that  the  law  of  gravity  is  essential  to  the 
preservation  and  comfort  of  the  world,  and  to  the  harmoni- 
ous motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  Yet  how  often  does  it 
give  rise  to  frightful  accidents  to  men  and  animals  !  But 
when  they  are  crushed  by  falling  bodies,  or  by  falling  them- 
selves, who  imagines  this  to  be  the  design  of  gravitation  ? 
How  clear  that  its  real  object  is  beneficial,  and  that  the  evil 
resulting  from  it  is  unavoidable  in  a  world  constituted  like 
ours  !  Why  the  world  is  not  constituted  differently,  is  an  inquiry 
which  men  may  try  to  answer ;  but  an  answer  is  not  impor- 
tant to  my  present  object. 

Take  an  example  from  the  organic  world.  Every  one  is 
aware  that  without  a  nervous  system  in  animals  there  would 
be  no  sensibility,  nor  sensation,  and,  of  course,  no  enjoyment ; 
and  without  these,  animals  would  be  unconscious  of  danger, 
and  would  not  guard  against  it,  nor  withdraw  from  it.  We 
are  sure,  therefore,  that  these  two  objects  are  the  grand  de- 
sign of  the  nervous  system,  and,  of  course,  it  is  a  benevolent 
design.  But  the  nervous  system  causes  a  great  deal  of  suf- 
fering as  well  as  pleasure.  Obviously,  however,  this  is  only 
an  incidental  effect,  which  could  not  be  prevented  without  a 
miracle  ;  while  the  main  design  is  to  produce  happiness  and 
guard  against  evil. 

It  may  be  asked,  however,  by  what  principle  we  can  de- 
termine what  is  the   design  of  a  contrivance,  and  what  the 


INCIDENTAL    EFFECTS.  223 

incidental  effect.  Why  select  a  part  of  the  effects,  and  call 
them  the  object  aimed  at  by  the  contriver,  while  we  regard 
others  as  incidental,  and  merely  permitted,  not  intended  ? 

The  principle  on  which  we  make  this  distinction  is  very 
clear.  We  judge  of  the  design  of  a  contrivance  by  its  pre- 
dominant tendencies  and  effects.  If  evil  as  often  results  as 
good,  misery  as  often  as  happiness,  we  could  not  decide 
whether  the  design  was  benevolent  or  malevolent,  or  an  indif- 
ference to  both.  But  the  benevolent  tendency  and  effects  of 
every  natural  contrivance  are  so  obvious,  and  so  immensely 
outweigh  all  its  evil  results,  that  we  are  compelled  to  admit 
the  design  of  the  Author  of  nature  to  be  benevolent.  And, 
therefore,  when  we  see  evil  occasionally  result  from  such 
contrivances,  we  are  authorized  to  say  that  this  is  only  an 
incidental  effect ;  not,  indeed,  wholly  undesigned,  for  we 
cannot  doubt  that  God  has  a  design  in  the  permission  of  all 
evil.  But  for  each  particular  arrangement  and  movement  in 
nature  we  can  discover  a  predominant  and  benevolent  object. 

Take  another  example  from  the  human  frame.  In  that 
frame  we  find  a  multitude  of  organs,  nearly  all  of  which  are 
obviously  adapted  to  a  particular  use.  Now,  the  anatomist 
cannot  lay  his  finger  upon  one  of  them,  and  say,  This  was 
intended  to  produce  derangement  and  suffering  in  the  system. 
Here  is  a  muscle  contrived  to  clog  the  operations  of  its 
neighbors  ;  here  a  blood-vessel  adapted  to  corrupt  the  blood 
and  produce  disease  ;  here  a  gland  whose  object  is  to  secrete 
a  poisonous  fluid,  to  contaminate  the  whole  system;  here  a 
nerve  made  to  produce  pain ;  here  a  plexus  of  vessels  suited 
to  bring  on  disease.  On  the  contrary,  this  anatomist  perceives 
at  once  that  all  the  organs  of  the  animal  system,  and  their 
collocation,  are  fitted  in  the  best  possible  manner  to  produce 
health.     It  is  obvious  at  a  glance  that  this  is  their  design. 


224  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A    FALLEN    WORLD. 

But  if  such  be  the  fact,  how  happens  it  that  so  few  per- 
sons pass  through  life  without  disease  ?  Is  it  all  to  be  im- 
puted to  an  abuse  and  perversion  of  the  organs  and  powers 
of  life  ?  Not  so,  in  my  opinion.  But  those  organs  are  all 
liable  to  disease ;  and  when  we  see  how  delicate  and  compli- 
cated they  are,  we  ought  not  to  wonder  that  even  the  una- 
voidable causes  of  derangement  should  often  bring  it  on. 
Yet,  after  all,  health  is  the  rule  and  the  object,  and  disease 
only  the  exception.  But  I  shall  say  more  on  this  subject  in 
another  part  of  the  argument. 

Some  one,  however,  who  hears  me,  has  doubtless  ere  this 
had  his  thoughts  recur  to  the  organs  of  carnivorous  animals, 
the  poisonous  fangs  of  serpents,  and  the  organs  of  the  scor- 
pion, the  tarantula,  and  of  insects,  for  the  generation  and 
protrusion  of  deadly  poison.  Here  we  have  organs  expressly 
provided  for  the  destruction  of  other  animals.  That  such  is 
their  design,  no  physiologist  can  doubt ;  and  hence  they  are 
intended  to  produce  suffering,  and  not  happiness. 

Is  this  an  exactly  correct  statement  of  the  case  ?  True, 
suffering  is  the  result  of  such  organs ;  but  the  arrangement 
is  intended  to  accomplish  still  higher  purposes.  The  leading 
one  is  to  procure  food  for  sustenance,  the  other  is  self-defence. 
Both  of  these  are  essential  to  the  animaPs  continued  exist- 
ence. That  suffering  should  be  incidentally  connected  with 
instruments  or  organs  so  important,  is  no  more  difficult  to  ex- 
plain than  is  the  existence  of  evil  any  where.  The  object 
even  of  these  contrivances,  then,  is  beneficial.  And  if  so,  I 
know  of  no  other  example  in  nature  so  seemingly  adverse  to 
the  position  I  have  laid  down,  that  the  main  object  of  every 
natural  contrivance  is  benevolent  in  its  origin  and  results.  If 
this  be  so,  how  clearly  does  it  indicate  the  character  of  the 
contriver  to  be  benevolent ! 


PLEASURE    SUPERADDED.  225 

My  second  argument  is  derived  from  the  fact  that  the  or- 
ganic functions  often  produce  pleasure  where  suffering  was 
just  as  consistent  with  their  most  perfect  action  ;  or  I  might 
say  that  such  are  the  arrangements  of  the  natural  world,  that 
pleasure  often  results  to  sentient  beings  from  its  operations, 
when  they  might  have  been  as  perfectly  performed  with  the 
production  of  pain.  A  few  illustrations  will  render  the  mean- 
ing of  this  position  obvious. 

As  we  look  abroad  upon  nature,  one  of  the  most  striking 
traits  we  discover  is  its  unbounded  variety.  With  the  Psalm- 
ist we  involuntarily  exclaim,  O  Lord,  how  manifold  are  thy 
works  I  It  is  not  merely  variety  as  to  form,  texture,  attitude, 
and  arrangement ;  but  who  can  describe  the  countless  tints  of 
coloring  which  are  spread  over  the  heavens  and  the  earth  ? 
Now,  there  is  in  the  human  soul  an  aptitude  to  be  pleased 
with  variety  ;  nay,  there  is  a  craving  for  it.  Nor  can  there 
be  a  more  terrible  infliction  than  unvarying  monotony  and 
sameness  of  appearance,  arrangement,  and  action.  If,  there- 
fore, the  Creator  had  been  malevolent,  or  indifferent  to  the 
happiness  of  man  and  other  sentient  beings,  he  might  have 
gratified  this  disposition  most  perfectly  by  giving  to  the  human 
soul  its  present  love  of  variety,  and  then  spreading  over  the 
face  of  nature  a  dead  uniformity  of  figure,  position,  arrange- 
ment, and  coloring ;  forming  every  thing  upon  the  same 
model.  And  this  might  have  been  done  without  impairing  at 
all  the  perfect  operation  of  all  her  laws  that  are  essential. 
Every  thing  might  have  been  as  systematic  and  harmonious 
as  it  now  is ;  but  sentient  beings  would  have  been  miserable  ; 
and  this  must  have  been  supremely  gratifying  to  infinite 
malevolence.  He  might  also  have  so  constructed  the  organs 
of  hearing,  sight,  and  smell,  that  every  sound  might  have 
been  ungrateful  and  grating,  every  odor  repulsive,  and  every 


226  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A    FALLEN    WORLD. 

prospect  disgusting.  While  hunger  would  have  urged  ani- 
mals, as  it  now  does,  to  seek  food,  its  reception  might  have 
been  painful,  or  utterly  void  of  gustatory  enjoyment.  So  in 
regard  to  social  enjoyments ;  we  might  have  been  irresistibly 
drawn  towards  our  fellow-men,  and  yet  their  society  might 
have  been  hateful  in  the  extreme. 

Had  such  a  state  of  things  existed,  how  very  clearly  we 
should  have  inferred  the  malevolence  of  the  Author  of  na- 
ture !  Or  if  such  a  state  had  been  witnessed  about  as  often 
as  its  opposite,  we  might  reasonably  have  said  that  he  was 
indiiferent  to  the  happiness  of  his  creatures.  Why,  then, 
may  we  not,  with  equal  reason,  infer  his  benevolence,  when 
we  find,  in  a  vast  majority  of  cases,  —  nay,  for  aught  I  know, 
universally,  —  that  pleasure  is  superadded  to  animal  enjoyment 
where  it  was  wholly  unnecessary  to  the  perfect  operation  of 
nature's  laws  > 

The  fact  is,  God  has  made  all  nature  "  beauty  to  our  eye 
and  music  to  our  ear,"  when  it  was  wholly  unnecessary  for 
the  perfect  operation  of  her  laws ;  and  the  inference  is  irre- 
sistible, that  he  delights  in  the  happiness  of  his  creatures. 
Nor  can  the  fact  that  evil  exists  in  the  world  destroy  the 
force  of  this  argument,  unless  that  evil  is  so  general  as  to  be 
obviously  the  design  of  the  Creator  in  devising  and  arranging 
the  system  of  the  world.  While  we  admit  its  existence,  we 
say  that  it  is  only  incidental,  and  that  pleasure  is  so  often 
superadded  unnecessarily,  as  to  prove  happiness  to  be  the 
design,  and  evil  the  exception. 

The  two  arguments  above  presented  are  the  evidence  on 
which  Dr.  Paley  relies  to  prove  the  divine  benevolence. 
They  are,  indeed,  as  it  seems  to  me,  unanswerable.  But  if 
I  mistake  not,  they  do  by  no  means  exhaust  the  storehouse 
of  nature's  proofs  of  this  fundamental  principle  of  natural 


TWO    WAYS    OF    DOING   A    THING.  227 

and  revealed  religion.  I  derive  a  third  argument  for  the  pre- 
dominance of  benevolence  in  the  works  of  nature  from  the 
variety  of  means  often  provided  for  the  performance  of  im- 
portant functions ;  so  that  animals  and  plants  can  adapt 
themselves  to  different  circumstances,  and  prolong  their 
existence. 

The  examples  which  I  have  in  mind  to  illustrate  this  argu- 
ment are  all  derived  from  the  organic  world.  I  refer,  for 
instance,  to  the  fact  that  nearly  all  our  muscles,  and  many 
other  important  organs,  as  the  hands,  the  feet,  the  eyes,  and  the 
lungs,  are  in  pairs,  so  that  if  one  meets  with  an  injury,  or  is 
destroyed,  the  other  can,  to  some  extent,  perform  the  office 
of  both.  The  brain  has  two  hemispheres,  and  one  of  them 
may  be  seriously  wounded  without  destroying  the  healthy 
action  of  the  other. 

But  perhaps  the  most  appropriate  example  is  in  the  blood- 
vessels, whose  inosculations  are  so  numerous  that  even 
though  large  arteries  and  veins  be  tied,  the  blood  will  find  its 
way  through  the  smaller  ones,  which  ultimately  will  so  en- 
large as  to  keep  up  the  circulation  nearly  as  well  as  before 
the  injury.  And,  in  fact,  almost  every  one  of  the  large  blood- 
vessels has  been  tied  by  the  surgeon  with  little  ultimate 
injury  to  the  patient. 

In  the  process  of  deglutition,  or  swallowing  the  nourish- 
ment essential  to  the  existence  of  all  the  more  perfect 
animals,  —  since  the  food  and  the  air  for  respiration  pass  for 
a  time  through  a  common  opening,  the  pharynx,  —  it  is  ex- 
tremely important  that  the  passage  to  the  lungs  should  be 
most  vigilantly  guarded ;  since  strangulation  would  follow 
the  introduction  there  of  any  thing  but  air.  Accordingly, 
the  entrance  of  the  glottis  is  so  sensitive,  that  the  approach 
of  the  food  causes  it  to  close.     But  lest  this  security  should 


228  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A   FALLEN    WORLD. 

sometimes  fail,  we  have  an  additional  guard  in  the  epiglottis, 
which  shuts  down  like  a  valve  upon  the  orifice.  Even  with 
this  double  precaution,  strangulation  sometimes  follows  the 
act  of  deglutition.  How  much  oftener  would  it  occur,  had 
not  benevolence  thus  multiplied  its  vigilant  sentinels  at  the 
point  of  danger ! 

Another  illustration  of  this  argument  lies  in  the  fact,  that 
many  of  the  organs  of  animals  and  plants  possess  the  power, 
when  an  exigency  requires  it,  of  greatly  increasing  their 
action.  When,  for  instance,  an  unusual  quantity  of  osseous 
matter  is  requisite  to  repair  a  broken  bone,  the  glands,  whose 
office  it  is  to  elaborate  that  matter,  are  capable  of  secreting 
an  extraordinary  quantity,  until  the  injury  is  repaired. 

Of  an  analogous  character  is  the  sympathy  existing  be- 
tween the  different  organs,  so  that  when  one  has  an  unusual 
amount  of  labor  to  perform,  the  rest  impart  of  their  nervous 
energy  to  sustain  their  overtasked  companion.  Thus,  and 
thus  only,  could  animals  be  carried  through  many  of  the 
severe  exigencies  of  their  existence.  Their  organs  help  one 
another,  just  as  if  they  were  conscious  of  one  another's  ne- 
cessities, and  were  prompted  by  benevolence  to  aid  the 
weakest. 

In  like  manner,  some  of  the  organs  possess  the  power  of 
vicarious  secretion ;  that  is,  of  producing,  in  peculiar  circum- 
stances, secretions  that  are  usually  made  by  other  glands. 
How  they  can  do  this,  and  how  they  can  know  when  to  do  it, 
are  among  the  mysteries  of  physiology.  Nevertheless,  the 
object  of  this  arrangement  is  most  obvious,  viz.,  the  continu- 
ance of  health  and  life  in  spite  of  accidents,  which  would 
otherwise  prove  fatal. 

The  same  vicarious  system  is  manifest  in  the  well-known 
examples,  where  the  loss  of  one  or  more  of  the  senses  gives 


VICARIOUS    ARRANGEMENTS.  229 

increased  acuteness  to  the  rest.  The  sense  of  touch,  for  in- 
stance, in  the  bUnd  man,  has  sometimes  proved  no  mean 
substitute  for  eyes ;  and,  indeed,  any  of  the  senses  by 
cuhivation,  in  peculiar  exigencies,  may  be  prodigiously 
strengthened. 

Now,  in  all  these  cases,  where  the  vicarious  principle  is 
brought  into  operation,  or  sympathy  concentrates  the  power 
of  many  organs  in  one,  or  the  loss  of  one  organ  or  sense 
quickens  the  sensibility  of  the  rest,  do  we  not  recognize  the 
prospective  care  and  kindness  of  infinite  benevolence  ?  Do 
you  say  that  it  merely  shows  infinite  wisdom,  which  adjusts 
means  to  ends  with  consummate  skill,  in  order  to  be  sure  of 
success  in  its  designs  ?  Why,  then,  I  inquire,  should  these 
provisions  for  trying  exigencies  in  the  animal  system  always 
tend  to  the  happiness  of  the  creature  ?  Surely  there  were 
other  means  at  the  command  of  infinite  wisdom  for  securing 
the  existence  of  the  animal,  which  would  bring  misery  upon 
it  instead  of  happiness.  The  benevolent  tendency  of  the 
design,  therefore,  proves  the  benevolent  feelings  of  the 
designer. 

The  extraordinary  provisions  that  are  made  in  some  cases 
for  the  multiplication  of  animals  and  plants,  in  order  to  pre- 
vent the  extinction  of  any  races,  and  to  give  life  and  happi- 
ness to  as  many  animals  as  can  be  sustained,  is  another  indi- 
cation of  benevolent  care  on  the  part  of  the  Creator.  Not 
less  than  five  modes  of  reproduction  are  known  to  exist,  viz., 
the  viviparous,  the  ovo-viviparous,  the  oviparous,  the  gemmipa- 
rous,  and  the  fissiparous  ;  and  among  the  lowest  families  of 
animals  several  of  these  modes  exist  in  the  same  species,  so 
that  their  extinction,  or  even  deficient  multiplication,  is 
scarcely  possible. 

The  same  benevolence  is  manifested  in  the  power  possessed 
20 


230  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A    FALLEN   WORLD. 

by  animals  and  plants  to  adapt  themselves  to  different  cir- 
cumstances. Often  are  they  thrown  into  conditions  widely 
diverse  as  to  food,  temperature,  and  exposure  to  chemical 
and  mechanical  agencies,  with  no  possibility  on  their  part  of 
avoiding  them.  This  is  eminently  true  of  man  ;  and  were 
not  animals  able  to  adapt  themselves  to  these  various  states, 
they  must  perish.  True,  there  are  limits  to  this  adaptation ; 
but  they  are  wide  enough  to  accomplish  the  great  purposes 
of  existence,  and  to  make  us  comfortable  and  happy  amid 
great  changes  in  our  condition.  Nor  is  this  power  of  adapta- 
tion among  animals  limited  to  their  physical  nature.  Their 
mental  habits  admit  of  an  oscillation  equally  wide,  so  that, 
ere  long,  we  become  happy  in  a  condition  which  at  first  was 
painful  in  the  extreme.  New  habits  take  the  place  of  the  old 
ones  so  gradually  that  we  scarcely  realize  the  change. 

Now,  if  this  power  were  not  possessed  in  such  a  world  as 
ours,  could  organic  natures  not  bend  at  all  to  circumstances, 
constant  suffering  and  premature  dissolution  would  be  the 
result.  The  power  of  adaptation,  therefore,  looks  like  the 
benevolent  provision  of  a  kind  Father,  who  wishes  to  make 
his  creatures  as  happy  as  he  can  in  the  circumstances  in 
which  his  wisdom  has  placed  them.  Certainly,  malevolence, 
or  indifference  to  their  happiness,  would  not  have  introduced 
this  power  of  adaptation  into  their  natures  ;  for  it  is  certain 
that  their  continued  existence  might  have  been  secured  in 
some  other  way,  had  no  reference  been  had  to  their  hap- 
piness. 

I  base  my  fourth  argument  for  the  predominance  of  benev- 
lence,  in  the  arrangements  of  nature,  upon  the  aggregate 
results  of  the  most  destructive  and  terrific  agencies  which 
she  employs. 

The  immediate   effects  of  these   agencies   are   often   so 


TERRIFIC    AGENCIES    NECESSARY.  231 

appalling  and  so  unmixed  with  good,  that  men  view  them  only 
as  penal  inflictions ;  or,  when  the  sufferers  are  unconscious 
of  guilt,  as  mysterious  dispensations  of  evil,  which  need  the 
light  of  another  world  to  reconcile  with  infinite  benevolence. 
When  the  tornado  or  sirocco's  hot  breath  sweeps  over  the 
devoted  land  ;  when  the  river  overflows  its  banks,  and  ingulfs 
the  defenceless  inhabitants  along  its  course,  or  the  giant  waves 
of  the  ocean  roll  in  upon  the  devoted  shore  ;  when  the  heav- 
ing earthquake  overturns  in  a  moment  vast  cities,  and  the 
earth  swallows  them  in  its  bosom  ;  or  when  the  volcano  pours 
out  its  suffocating  smoke  and  its  scorching  lava,  and  oblit- 
erates from  earth  the  defenceless  town,  as  once  Herculaneum 
and  Pompeii  were  converted  into  petrified  cities,  —  in  the 
midst  of  such  desolating  agencies,  where  can  we  discover  a 
gleam  of  benevolence  ?  Not  surely  in  the  immediate  effects. 
But  suppose  the  tornado,  the  flood,  the  earthquake,  and  the 
volcano  are  essential  to  the  preservation  of  the  earth  from  a 
far  wider  ruin,  so  that,  in  fact,  while  they  destroy  some  prop- 
erty and  life,  they  preserve  a  far  greater  amount,  and  are 
essential  to  such  preservation,  —  why  is  it  not  benevolence 
that  gives  a  slight  play  to  these  terrific  elements,  while  it 
checks  their  wild  war  so  soon  as  the  requisite  security  has 
been  obtained  ?  When  the  storm  has  sufficiently  purified  the 
atmosphere,  when  the  flood  has  enriched  the  wide  alluvial 
fields,  and  the  earthquake  and  the  volcano  have  given  vent  to 
the  pent-up  fires  in  the  earth,  so  that  they  no  longer  threaten 
to  rend  a  continent  asunder,  then  a  restraining  power  is  put 
upon  them,  and  they  are  allowed  no  more  range  than  is  essen- 
tial to  the  general  good.  We  may  not,  indeed,  see  why  the 
good  could  not  be  secured  without  the  evil.  But  this  question 
leads  to  the  inquiry,  whether  the  present  system  of  the  uni- 
verse is  the  best  possible ;    and  that   it  is  so  we  have  the 


232  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A    FALLEN    WORLD. 

guaranty  of  the  divine  perfections.  Those  perfections  admit 
the  existence  of  evil ;  but  at  the  same  time  they  take  care 
that  the  aggregate  result  of  the  greatest  evils  should  be 
beneficial. 

Nor  would  we  limit  this  position  to  evils  springing  out  of 
the  nature  or  the  changes  of  the  inanimate  world  ;  for  some 
of  the  severest  evils  are  dependent  upon  the  organization  or 
operation  of  animate  nature.  Man,  for  instance,  finds  him- 
self often  grossly  annoyed  by  some  species  of  the  inferior 
animals,  in  his  comfort,  property,  and  even  life.  And  he 
wonders  why  infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence  should  per- 
mit certain  species  to  exist,  when  they  seem  fitted  only  to 
annoy  the  rest.  But  he  knows  not  what  he  desires  when  he 
wishes  their  extinction.  For  such  is  the  balance  of  organic 
nature,  that  to  strike  out  even  one  species,  is  like  removing  a 
link  from  a  chain.  Once  broken,  every  other  link  is  affected, 
and  the  whole  chain  lies  useless  upon  the  ground.  Or,  to 
speak  without  a  figure,  if  you  blot  out  certain  species  of  ani- 
mals or  plants,  you  disturb  the  balance  of  the  whole  system 
of  organic  nature  ;  nor  can  you  tell  where  the  disturbance  thus 
introduced  will  end.  It  may  lead  to  the  excessive  multiplica- 
tion of  species  still  more  injurious  than  those  you  have  de- 
stroyed. At  any  rate,  since  the  perfections  of  the  Deity  lead 
to  the  conclusion  that  the  existing  proportion  between  different 
species  is  the  best,  all  things  considered,  and  change  in  the 
balance  must  be  injurious,  we  may  conclude,  that  though  nox- 
ious animals  and  plants  may  produce  individual  inconvenience 
and  injury,  the  aggregate  effects  upon  the  whole  of  organic 
nature  are  salutary,  and,  therefore,  indicative  of  benevolence. 

Similar  reasoning  will,  I  think,  apply  to  the  existence  of 
that  large  class  of  animals  called  carnivorous.  These  are 
evidently  intended  to  prey  upon  other  animals  ;  and  for  this 


CARNIVOROUS    RACES    NECESSARY.  233 

purpose  they  are  provided  with  weapons  for  seizing  and  de- 
stroying their  prey.  It  is  often  extremely  painful  to  a  man 
of  kind  feelings  to  witness  the  scenes  of  blood  and  havoc 
which  these  flesh-eating  animals  produce.  But  we  forget  two 
things.  The  first  is,  that  in  order  to  keep  the  numbers  of  ani- 
mated beings  full  in  the  different  tribes,  it  is  necessary  that 
there  should  be  a  great  excess  of  numbers  created,  to  meet 
all  the  casualties  to  which  they  are  exposed  ;  and  that  excess 
must  in  some  way  or  other  be  removed  from  life.  Secondly, 
all  the  enjoyment  of  the  carnivorous  races  is  so  much  clear 
gain  to  the  sum  of  animal  happiness  ;  for  the  excess  of  num- 
bers in  the  tribes  of  vegetable  feeders  suffer  no  more  in  being 
destroyed  by  the  carnivorous  races,  than  if  they  died  in  some 
other  way ;  not  so  much,  indeed,  as  if  they  perished  by  fam- 
ine. We  may  safely  conclude,  then,  that  even  this  system 
of  mutual  slaughter,  when  viewed  in  all  its  relations,  is  the 
means,  in  such  a  world  as  ours,  of  increasing  the  amount  of 
enjoyment,  and  is,  therefore,  a  benevolent  provision. 

This  course  of  reasoning  may  be  extended,  as  I  judge,  to 
the  greatest  of  all  mortal  evils,  —  I  mean  death.  In  the  case 
of  the  inferior  animals,  the  amount  of  physical  or  mental  suf- 
fering from  this  cause  is  comparatively  small.  And  if  they 
survive  the  change  of  death,  surely  there  is  benevolence  in  so 
easy  a  translation.  Or,  if  they  do  not  exist  hereafter,  the 
stroke  of  death  is  a  small  deduction  from  the  happiness  of  a 
whole  life.  In  man's  case,  we  must  not  take  into  the  account 
the  aggravations  of  death  which  his  own  misconduct  pro- 
duces. And  aside  from  these,  what  a  blessing  it  would  be  to  be 
transferred  to  a  more  exalted  state  of  being,  by  an  experience 
no  more  painful  than  that  of  a  Christian  dying  what  may  be 
called  a  natural  death,  by  mere  decay  !  Then,  too,  how 
much  greater  happiness  is  the  result  of  a  succession  of 
20* 


234  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A    FALLEN    WORLD. 

beings  on  earth,  than  one  undying  race  would  enjoy,  both 
because  the  successive  races  would  be  ever  passing  through 
novel  scenes,  which  would  soon  become  monotonous  to  a 
continuous  race,  and  because,  as  we  have  already  suggested, 
a  succession  of  races  admits  of  the  existence,  at  any  one 
time,  of  a  far  greater  number  of  species !  Then,  too,  we 
must  not  forget  the  salutary  moral  influence  which  man  expe- 
riences from  the  expectation  of  death  ;  so  great,  indeed,  that 
without  it,  it  seems  doubtful  whether  the  world  would  be  any 
thing  better  than  a  Pandemonium.  In  making  indissoluble 
the  connection  between  sin  and  death,  therefore,  in  such  a 
system  as  the  present,  benevolence  presided  with  wisdom 
and  justice  in  the  councils  of  Jehovah. 

But  in  the  third  lecture  I  have  treated  this  whole  subject 
so  much  more  fully,  that  I  need  not  add  any  thing  further  in 
this  connection. 

I  base  my  fifth  and  last  argument,  to  prove  the  predomi- 
nance of  benevolence  in  the  present  system  of  nature,  on  the 
fact  that  good  so  often  results  from  evil  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence. Or,  to  state  the  argument  in  another  form,  good 
seems  generally  to  be  the  object  or  final  cause  of  evil, 
whereas  evil  flows  only  incidentally  from  good. 

This  argument  scarcely  differs  from  the  last,  except  in  the 
more  general  form  of  its  statement.  That  brings  forward 
certain  prominent  and  appalling  evils,  and  endeavors  to  show 
that,  in  striking  the  balance  of  their  effects,  the  preponderance 
is  on  the  side  of  benevolence.  This  advances  a  step  farther, 
and  attempts  to  show  that  the  direct  object  of  evil  is  to  pro- 
duce good. 

It  follows,  hence,  that  the  examples  adduced  and  elucidated 
under  the  last  argument  are  not  inappropriate  to  sustain  and 
illustrate  the  present.     Yet  others  should  be  added. 


TRIALS    NECESSARY   TO    HAPPINESS.  235 

Almost  the  entire  history  of  medicine  and  surgery  illus- 
trates the  manner  in  which  physical  evils  result  in  physical 
good.  Indeed,  men  never  resort  to  the  physician,  or  the  sur- 
geon, because  their  remedies  and  operations  are  desirable,  but 
only  because  they  are  the  necessary  means  of  health  and 
comfort.  These  means  are,  indeed,  for  the  most  part,  of  hu- 
man invention,  but  not,  therefore,  the  less  indicative  of  the 
divine  intention  ;  for  they  are  founded  upon  such  a  constitu- 
tion in  nature  as  makes  it  possible  to  discover  remedies  for 
disease  and  accidents.  And  the  characteristics  of  nature's 
constitution  are  an  index  of  the  intentions  of  its  Author. 

The  severe  mental  discipline  through  which  the  youth  must 
pass,  who  would  attain  distinction  in  learning,  affords  us  an 
example  of  intellectual  evil  resulting  in  intellectual  wealth 
and  happiness.  The  trial  is  too  severe  for  many  irresolute 
minds,  and  they  give  over  the  effort,  and  sink  down  into  a 
state  of  indolence  and  neglect.  But  he  who  bears  manfully 
the  discipline  will  at  length  gather  the  golden  fruit.  And  he 
will  be  satisfied,  too,  of  the  wisdom  and  benevolence  of  that 
law  of  mental  progress,  which  makes  it  impossible  ever  to  find 
a  royal  road  to  the  temple  of  learning,  and  which  shuts  out 
from  that  temple  all  who  shrink  from  the  preparatory  dis- 
cipline. 

Still  more  strikingly  illustrative  of  this  argument  are  the 
evils  which  men  suffer  as  necessary  precursors  of  moral  good. 
These  may  be  physical  or  mental  ;  embracing  all  those  expe- 
riences that  take  the  name  of  trials,  afflictions,  and  disappoint- 
ments. These  are  often  intensely  bitter,  and  they  constitute, 
indeed,  the  master  evils  of  life.  We  shudder  when  we  see 
them  coming  :  and  we  often  writhe  in  agony  when  in  the 
furnace.  But  how  many  have  come  out  of  that  furnace  puri- 
fied from  base  alloy,  and  ready  for  the  service  of  God  and 


236  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A    FALLEN    WORLD. 

the  world  !  To  do  good  is  henceforth  their  delight ;  and  they 
thank  God  for  the  severe  discipline.  When  his  heavy  blows 
fell  upon  them,  one  after  another,  they  felt  as  if  they  were 
the  strokes  of  an  incensed  Deity.  But  now  they  see  that  they 
were  only  the  necessary  inflictions  of  infinite  love.  And 
they  admire  the  wisdom  that  could  thus  educe  so  much  good 
out  of  so  great  evil. 

I  do  not  contend  that  good  is  always  educed  from  evil  in 
this  world,  or  could  be  ;  but  only  that,  in  a  plurality  of  cases, 
if  men  improve  the  evils  they  suffer  as  they  might,  such  would 
be  the  effect.  And  if  this  be  admitted,  it  is  sufficient  to  estab- 
lish the  general  principle,  that  one  of  the  direct  objects  of  evil 
in  this  world  is  to  produce  individual  benefit. 

But  the  converse  of  this  proposition  cannot  be  maintained. 
We  cannot,  indeed,  deny  that  evil  sometimes  results  from 
good  ;  but  never  as  the  direct  object  of  the  latter.  The  effect 
is  only  incidental ;  that  is,  not  as  the  main  object  ;  and  so  a 
few  cases  of  this  sort  cannot  invalidate  the  proposition  which 
I  defend. 

I  might  multiply  much  more  the  arguments  furnished  by 
nature  to  prove  a  predominance  of  benevolence  in  the  arrange- 
ments and  operations  of  the  present  system  of  things.  But  I 
see  no  way  of  escaping  the  force  of  those  presented,  and  can- 
not doubt  that  all  will  admit  the  conclusion.  I  advance,  there- 
fore to  a  second  proposition,  and  maintain  that  the  benevolence 
exJiibiied  in  the  present  system  of  nature  is  not  unmixed. 

I  mean,  by  this  statement,  that  the  divine  benevolence  ex- 
hibited in  this  world  is  modified  by  other  perfections.  While 
there  is  a  predominance  of  benevolence,  there  are  also  indi- 
cations of  God's  displeasure  ;  or,  at  least,  his  dealings  seem  to 
be  adapted  to  restrain  and  amend  a  wicked  race,  rather  than 
to  make  an  innocent  and  holy  race  happy  ;  so  that  the  condition 


BENEVOLENCE    NOT    UNMIXED.  237 

of  the  human  family  is  far  less  happy  than  unmixed  benevo- 
lence would  confer. 

In  proof  of  this  assertion,  I  maintain,  first,  that  evil  is  inci- 
dental to  every  process  and  event  in  nature. 

This  is  preeminently  true  of  all  those  actions  which  we 
call  vicious.  Indeed,  they  are  in  themselves  evils  of  the 
worst  kind  ;  and  not  only  so,  but  they  are  connected  incident- 
ally with  scarcely  any  thing  but  evil,  though  sometimes,  as 
theologians  say,  overruled  for  good. 

Take  next  the  common  operations  of  nature,  which,  of 
course,  have  no  moral  character.  Their  leading  design,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  is  to  produce  good  to  sentient  beings ; 
but  incidentally  they  bring  much  evil.  Food  is  intended  for 
gustatory  enjoyment  and  for  nourishment ;  but  it  is  often  the 
occasion  of  severe  suffering,  and  becomes  an  active  poison. 
Gravity  is  intended  to  hold  the  material  universe  in  a  proper 
balance,  and  to  attach  every  moving  thing  on  earth  to  the 
surface  ;  but  it  occasions  a  vast  number  of  accidents,  and  a 
vast  amount  of  suffering.  Water  and  fire  are  of  immense 
direct  benefit ;  yet  the  first  buries  a  vast  amount  of  property 
and  life  in  its  bosom,  and  the  latter  is  scarcely  less  injurious 
in  its  incidental  effects.  Indeed,  what  natural  agency  can  be 
named,  that  is  not  armed  with  the  power  to  do  evil  ? 

But  the  same  principle  extends  also  to  benevolent  actions. 
With  our  views  of  divine  benevolence,  we  might  expect  that 
virtuous  conduct  would  never  be  coupled  with  evil.  But  this 
notion  does  not  accord  with  facts  ;  for  the  incidental  evils 
connected  with  benevolent  action  are  often  the  most  painful 
in  life.  Indeed,  in  how  many  instances  has  doing  good  been 
rewarded  by  the  loss  of  life,  and  under  all  the  aggravations 
of  suffering  which  malignant  ingenuity  could  invent !  And 
the  fact  has  been,  that  those  whose  motives  in  doing  good 


238  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A    FALLEN    WORLD. 

were  the  purest  have  suffered  the  most.  Witness  the  life 
and  the  death  of  Him  who  knew  no  sin,  and  yet  was  led  as 
a  Iamb  to  the  slaughter.  Since  wickedness  in  this  world  is 
sometimes  allowed  to  have  the  power  of  annoying  goodness 
we  might  expect  that  the  more  disinterested  the  latter,  the 
more  malignant  and  persecuting  would  be  the  former,  be- 
cause its  own  deformity  is  made  more  manifest. 

But  the  incidental  evils  connected  with  benevolent  action 
are  not  limited  to  those  resulting  from  the  malice  of  the 
wicked.  If,  for  instance,  some  huge  system  of  iniquity  has 
become  incorporated  into  the  very  texture  of  society,  benev- 
olence cannot  root  it  out  without  producing  many  a  severe 
laceration  of  individuals,  who  are  incidentally  connected  with 
the  system,  but  to  whom  no  blame  attaches.  The  history  of 
the  efforts  that  have  been  made  to  substitute  Christianity  for 
heathenism  and  other  false  religions,  is  full  of  examples  illus- 
trative of  this  principle,  in  conformity  with  the  remarkable 
declaration  of  Christ,  Think  not  that  I  am  come  to  send  peace 
en  earth ;  I  came  not  to  send  peace,  but  a  sword.  Alike  prolific 
of  illustrations  are  all  the  great  attempted  reforms  which  the 
world  has  witnessed,  whether  for  delivering  religion  from 
human  corruptions,  or  eradicating  slavery,  or  intemperance, 
or  breaking  the  political  yoke  of  the  oppressor.  In  fine,  no 
reasonable  man  ought  to  expect  to  do  much  good  in  this 
world,  without  suffering  much  himself  and  bringing  some 
incidental  suffering  upon  others. 

Now,  although  the  evils  that  have  been  described  are  inci- 
dental, they  belong  to  the  constitution  of  this  world,  and, 
therefore,  show  the  feelings  and  intentions  of  its  Author,  as 
much  as  those  effects  of  his  works  which  appear  to  be  their 
final  causes.  But  do  not  such  evils,  incidental  to  every  event, 
indicate  a  feeling  in  the  divine  mind  different  from  unmixed 


FEELINGS    OF    THE    DEITY    HOW   SHOWN.  239 

benevolence  ?  Strictly  speaking,  these  evils  are  not  penal 
inflictions.  But  they  certainly  do  not  show  in  the  Creator  a 
simple  desire  to  promote  the  happiness  of  men,  by  directly 
conferring  it.  They  rather  indicate  a  necessity,  on  account 
of  some  peculiarity  in  the  character  of  man,  of  mingling 
severity  with  goodness  in  the  divine  conduct  towards  him. 

In  thus  representing  incidental  effects  as  indicative  of  the 
feelings  of  the  Deity,  I  may  seem  to  contradict  my  reason- 
ing under  the  first  head,  where  I  gave,  as  proof  of  God's 
benevolence,  the  fact  that  the  direct  object  of  every  contri- 
vance is  beneficial,  and  evil  only  incidental.  But  I  did  not 
mean  to  intimate  that  the  incidental  effects  of  a  contrivance 
are  no  index  of  the  feelings  of  its  author,  but  only  that  the 
direct  effects  show  more  clearly  than  the  incidental  what  are 
his  wishes  and  intentions,  especially  if  the  former  are  the 
most  numerous,  important,  and  striking.  Still,  incidental 
effects  are  never  without  an  object;  and  where  they  are  evil, 
as  in  the  case  supposed,  they  indicate  other  feelings  towards 
men,  in  the  divine  mind,  than  unmixed  benevolence.  For  it 
is  a  strange  limitation  of  God's  wisdom  and  power  to  say,  as 
some  do,  that  the  evils  could  not  be  prevented. 

It  may  be  said,  however,  that  if  men  only  conform  to  the 
laws  of  nature,  they  will  escape  all  the  evils  they  suffer.  On 
the  other  hand,  I  maintain,  —  and  this  constitutes  my  second 
argument  to  show  that  the  divine  benevolence  is  not  unmixed, 
—  I  maintain  that  the  highest  virtue  and  the  most  consum- 
mate prudence  cannot  avoid  all  the  evils  of  life. 

Such  prudence  and  virtue  will  not  secure  any  one  against 
many  destructive  natural  agencies  and  operations  to  which  he 
is  exposed.  Miasms  productive  of  fatal  disease  may  con- 
taminate the  atmosphere  we  breathe,  unperceived  by  us ; 
poison  may  exist  in  the  food  which  we  take  as  our  necessary 


240  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A    FALLEN    WORLD. 

sustenance  ;  the  mechanical  violence  of  the  elements,  or  of 
gravity,  may  crush  us  ;  the  lightning  may  smile  us  to  the 
earth  ;  the  wild  beast  may  rush  from  his  unnoticed  lair  as  we 
pass  ;  or  the  deadly  insect,  or  serpent,  may  inject  its  poison 
into  our  blood  at  an  unexpected  moment;  or  the  floods  may 
overwhelm,  or  the  fire  consume  us. 

Now,  although  prudence  and  virtue  may  defend  us  against 
many  evils,  they  afford  no  security  against  such  as  I  have 
named,  in  very  many  instances.  We  are  often  ignorant  of 
their  existence  or  proximity  till  we  become  their  victims,  and 
suffering,  often  intense,  is  the  consequence.  Indeed,  the 
greatest  of  all  physical  evils  —  I  mean  death  —  is  as  sure  to 
visit  every  son  and  daughter  of  Adam  as  any  event  can  be ; 
and  nothing  but  insanity,  or  its  religious  synonyme,  fanati- 
cism, has  ever  pretended  to  be  proof  against  disease  and 
death.  You  cannot,  indeed,  point  out  any  particular  organ 
or  agency,  whose  direct  object  is  to  produce  disease  and 
death  ;  but  they  are  nevertheless  the  inevitable  result  of  or- 
ganic operations  and  agencies  in  such  a  world  as  this. 

It  will  be  said,  perhaps,  that  the  good  resulting  to  the  whole 
from  even  the  most  severe  of  these  sufferings,  overbalances 
the  evil,  and  therefore  they  are  indications  of  benevolence  in 
such  a  world  as  ours.  True,  as  things  are,  this  may  be  so. 
But  the  question  is,  Why  is  there  such  a  constitution  given  to 
nature  as  made  it  necessary  to  introduce  disease,  accident, 
and  death  ?  Would  not  unmixed  benevolence  have  conferred 
the  good,  but  have  withheld  the  evil  ?  Had  there  not  been 
something  in  man's  character  requiring  the  discipline  of 
trials,  would  pure  benevolence  have  sent  them  ?  At  least, 
we  should  suppose  that  they  might  all  have  been  avoided  by 
prudence  and  virtue.  Why  should  benevolence  make  such 
severe  drawbacks  upon  the   happiness  even  of  the  virtuous, 


STERILITY    OF    THE    EARTH.  241 

if  something  were   not  radically  wrong  in  the  human  con- 
stitution ? 

Thirdly.  The  great  sterility  of  so  large  a  part  of  the  earth, 
and  the  necessity  of  severe  bodily  labor  to  secure  sustenance 
from  it,  show  us  that  the  benevolence  exhibited  in  nature  and 
in  man's  condition  is  not  unmixed.  Though  some  limited 
regions  are  exuberantly  fertile,  the  larger  part  of  the  earth 
yields  up  even  a  mere  sustenance  only  after  the  severest 
labor.  And  the  vast  majority  of  the  race  can  do  nothing 
more  than  to  obtain  food  for  the  body.  The  artificial  state  of 
most  societies  does,  indeed,  keep  the  lower  classes  much  more 
depressed  than  a  better  state  of  the  world  would  bring  them 
into  ;  but  at  the  best,  nature  unites  with  revelation  in  attesting 
the  truth  of  the  sentence  passed  upon  man  —  In  the  sweat  of 
thy  face  shall  thou  eat  thy  bread. 

Nor  is  this  necessity  for  severe  labor  confined  to  the  culti- 
vation of  the  earth,  but  extends  to  all  kinds  of  human  pur- 
suits. Success,  as  a  general  fact,  can  be  secured  only  by 
vigorous  industry  ;  and  often,  in  spite  of  their  most  honest  and 
persevering  efforts,  men  fail  of  securing  even  a  competence 
for  the  support  of  themselves  and  their  dependants. 

Some  will  say  that  all  this  arises  from  a  necessity  in  the 
very  nature  of  the  case.  But  does  not  such  a  view  limit  the 
divine  power  and  wisdom  ?  Could  not  God  have  prepared  a 
world  more  paradisiacal  than  the  present,  where  the  earth 
should  spontaneously  yield  her  fruits,  and  pour  out  her  hidden 
treasures  at  man's  feet  ?  Who  will  deny  this  ?  Why,  then, 
has  he  not  done  it  ?  Because  obviously  a  race  so  prone  to 
evil  as  man,  so  incapable  of  maintaining  his  integrity  in  the 
lap  of  ease  and  indulgence,  needs  all  this  severe  discipline  to 
keep  him  where  he  ought  to  be.  Here,  then,  we  see  a  reason 
why  God  must  mingle  seeming  severity  with  benevolence. 
21 


242  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A    FALLEN    WORLD. 

The  same  thing  is  seen,  in  the  fourth  place,  in  the  con- 
fined and  depressed  condition  of  the  human  mind  in  this 
world,  and  in  the  multiplied  obstacles  in  the  way  of  its  culti- 
vation and  enlargement. 

What  a  clog  to  the  intellect  is  a  body  governed  by  gross 
appetites,  and  often  stopping  the  ingress  of  truth,  or  pervert- 
ing its  aspect,  by  disordered  and  imperfect  senses !  Nearly 
one  third  of  the  time  must  that  intellect  sink  into  oblivion, 
while  sleep  recruits  the  physical  powers.  And  nearly  another 
third  of  life  must  be  given  to  the  wants  of  the  body  ;  and  as 
we  have  seen,  the  great  mass  of  men  are  obliged  to  devote 
nearly  their  whole  time  to  serve  the  necessary  wants  of  the 
body.  What  an  incalculable  waste  of  mind  does  the  world 
exhibit !  And  even  when  all  artificial  and  unnecessary  ob- 
structions are  taken  out  of  the  way,  what  an  immense  waste 
must  it  always  present,  while  in  so  gross  a  corporeal  tenement ! 
for  were  it  free  to  exhibit  its  true  nature,  we  cannot  doubt  its 
power  of  unwearied  and  incessant  activity.  And  such  might 
have  been  its  condition  here,  had  it  pleased  infinite  wisdom 
and  benevolence.  But  what  unmixed  benevolence  would 
have  prompted,  perfect  wisdom  would  not  permit  to  fallen 
man. 

I  feel  confident  that  my  first  two  propositions  are  estab- 
lished, viz.,  that  there  is  a  predominance  of  benevolence  in 
the  arrangements  and  operations  of  the  present  world,  and 
yet  that  it  is  not  unmixed  benevolence.  I  advance  to  a  third 
proposition,  which  asserts  that  the  same  mixed  system  of  good 
and  evil^  which  now  exists,  has  always  prevailed  since  the 
earth  was  inhabited. 

Geology  shows  us  the  true  succession  of  events  since  the 
first  appearance  of  organic  beings  on  the  globe,  but  no  chron- 
ological dates  are  registered  on  the  rocks.     And  it  is  only 


IDENTITY    OF    PAST    AND   PRESENT    LAWS.  243 

by  observing  processes  in  existing  nature,  analogous  to  those 
whose  record  is  engraven  on  the  solid  strata,  that  we  can 
infer  that  the  years  since  life  first  appeared  on  the  surface 
must  have  been  very  many.  But  however  far  back  in  the 
hoary  past  that  event  occurred,  we  have  indisputable  evidence 
that  the  same  laws  then  controlled  the  operations  of  nature 
as  now,  and  the  result  was  the  same  mixture  of  good 
and  evil. 

In  the  crystalline  structure,  and  in  the  perfect  crystals  of 
the  older  rocks,  we  learn  the  laws  which  predominated  at 
their  production.  And  we  find  that  the  same  chemical,  elec- 
trical, and  electro-magnetical  influences  presided  over  their 
formation  as  are  now  exhibited  in  the  laboratory  of  the  chem- 
ist or  the  laboratory  of  nature.  Now,  these  crystals  conduct 
us  back  much  farther  than  the  dawn  of  terrestrial  life,  though 
similar  ones,  and  produced  by  the  same  laws,  are  found 
through  the  whole  series  of  rocks,  from  the  oldest  to  the 
newest.  And  I  might  appeal  to  many  other  facts  in  the 
earth's  history,  which  demonstrate  an  identity  between  the 
physical  laws  that  have  controlled  nature's  processes  in  every 
period  of  past  time. 

We  have  evidence,  also,  of  the  same  identity  in  the  laws 
of  life,  or  organic  laws.  In  the  anatomical  structure  of  the 
earliest  animals  and  plants  we  find  the  same  general  type 
that  pervades  the  present  creation,  modified  only,  as  it  now  is, 
to  meet  peculiar  circumstances.  This  is  true  not  only  of  the 
osseous,  but  also  of  the  muscular,  circulatory,  nervous,  lym- 
phatic, and  nutritive  organs.  Hence,  as  we  might  expect, 
we  have  evidence  of  the  prevalence  of  the  same  functional 
or  physiological  laws  then,  as  now.  Respiration  was  per- 
formed, as  it  now  is,  and  with  the  same  effects.  Vegetable 
and  animal  food  was  then,  as  now,  masticated,  digested,  and 


244  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A    FALLEN    WORLD. 

assimilated  ;  and  since  animals  possessed  the  same  senses,  we 
infer  that  their  habits  were  essentially  the  same.  There  is 
not,  indeed,  any  evidence  that  ancient  animals  and  plants 
exhibited  any  peculiarities  of  structure  or  function,  save  those 
necessary  to  adapt  them  to  the  circumstances,  so  unlike  the 
present,  in  many  respects,  in  which  they  lived. 

We  are  sure,  also,  that  death  has  ever  reigned  over  all  or- 
ganic nature.  It  has  always  been  produced  by  the  same 
causes,  and  attended  by  the  same  suffering.  And  its  ravages 
were  repaired  by  the  same  system  of  reproduction  as  now 
exists.  All  this  we  might  presume  would  be  the  case,  upon 
the  discovery  of  an  identity  of  laws,  mechanical,  chemical, 
and  organic  ;  but  we  have  direct  evidence,  also,  in  the  count- 
less remains  of  animals  and  plants  entombed  in  the  rocks, 
more  than  twenty  thousand  species  of  which  have  been  dis- 
interred by  naturalists  and  described. 

I  might  multiply  facts  almost  without  number  to  sustain 
the  position,  that  the  same  mixed  system  has  ever  prevailed 
upon  the  globe ;  for  geology  is  full  of  the  details.  But 
in  a  subsequent  lecture,  the  subject  will  be  more  amply 
discussed. 

Such  are  the  facts  respecting  the  divine  benevolence,  as 
they  are  presented  in  the  volume  of  nature.  Though  benev- 
olence decidedly  predominates,  it  is  modified  by  other  divine 
attributes,  and  ever  has  been,  since  organic  existence  began 
upon  the  globe.  Let  us  now,  in  the  fourth  place^  see  what 
inferences  are  fairly  deducihle  from  the  whole  subject.  For 
those  inferences,  if  I  mistake  not,  will  not  only  clear  away 
every  cloud  from  the  divine  benevolence,  but  throw  much 
light  upon  man's  condition. 

In  the  first  place,  the  subject  shows  us  that  the  world  is  not 
in  a  state  of  retribution. 


THE    WORLD    IN    A    FALLEN    STATE.  245 

As  a  general  fact,  virtue  is  to  some  extent  rewarded,  and 
vice  to  some  extent  punished.  But  it  is  not  always  so.  In- 
deed, the  picture  is  sometimes  reversed  apparently ;  and  the 
good  are  afflicted  because  they  do  good,  and  the  wicked 
triumph  because  they  do  evil.  Evil  abounds,  but  it  is  not  so 
distributed  as  righteous  retribution  would  award  it ;  neither  is 
good.  Since,  therefore,  God's  justice  must  be  infinitely  per- 
fect, there  must  be  some  other  object  for  the  prevalence  of 
good  and  evil  in  the  world  besides  righteous  retribution. 

Secondly.  We  learn  from  the  subject  that  the  world  is  in  a 
fallen  condition. 

I  mean,  that  man  has  fallen  from  holiness  and  happiness. 
For  the  world  is  evidently  not  such  a  world  as  infinite  wisdom 
and  benevolence  would  prepare  for  a  being  perfectly  holy  and 
happy.  Philosophize  as  we  may,  we  cannot  discover  any 
reason  why  the  abode  of  such  a  being  should  be  filled  with 
evils  of  almost  every  name  —  evils  which  the  most  consum- 
mate prudence  and  the  most  elevated  virtue  cannot  wholly 
avoid  —  evils  which  often  come  upon  the  good  man  because 
he  is  eminent  for  holiness.  But  if  man  has  fallen  from  origi- 
nal holiness  and  happiness  by  transgression,  we  might  expect 
just  such  a  world  to  be  fitted  up  for  his  residence,  because 
evil  is  indissolubly  linked  to  sin,  perhaps  in  the  very  nature 
of  things,  certainly  by  divine  appointment.  We  know  that 
it  brings  a  curse  upon  every  thing  with  which  it  is  connected  ; 
and  here  we  see  a  reason  for  the  blight  that  has  marred  some 
of  the  fairest  features  of  nature,  and  introduced  pain  and 
f;uffering  into  the  animal  frame,  and  brought  a  cloud  over 
man's  noble  intellect,  and  hebetude  over  his  moral  powers. 
Such  a  fallen  condition  will  explain  what  no  other  supposition 
can,  viz.,  the  clouded,  fettered,  and  depressed  condition  of  all 
organic  nature. 

21* 


246  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN   A    FALLEN   WORLD. 

Yet,  thirdly.  We  should  not  infer  that  man's  condition  was 
hopeless,  but  rather  that  mercy  might  be  in  store  for  him. 

The  very  fact  that  the  world  is  not  in  a  state  of  retribution 
would  seem  to  afford  hope  that  God  had  other  purposes  than 
punishment  in  allowing  evil  to  be  introduced.  And  then  the 
vast  predominance  of  benevolence  and  happiness  around  us 
cannot  but  inspire  hope  for  the  fallen. 

This  will  be  still  more  manifest  if  we  infer,  and  can  show, 
fourthly,  that  the  world  is  in  a  state  of  probation  or  trial. 

By  this  I  mean  that  men  are  placed  in  a  condition  for  the 
trial  and  discipline  of  their  characters,  in  order  to  fit  them 
for  a  higher  state.  If  fallen  and  depraved,  they  need  to  pass 
through  such  a  discipline  before  they  can  be  prepared  for  that 
higher  condition.  And  surely  no  one  can  observe  the  scenes 
through  which  all  pass,  without  being  struck  with  their  em- 
inent adaptedness  to  train  man  to  virtue  and  holiness.  Until 
we  have  been  pupils  for  a  time  in  this  school,  we  are  not  fit 
even  for  the  successive  states  in  this  life  into  which  we  pass ; 
much  less  for  a  higher  condition.  But  there  is  a  marvellous 
power  in  this  discipline  to  prepare  us  for  both,  as  vast  multi- 
tudes have  testified  while  they  lived  and  when  they  died. 
Even  death  seems,  so  far  as  we  can  see,  to  be  the  only  means 
by  which  a  sinful  being  can  be  delivered  from  his  stains ;  and 
the  dread  of  this  terrific  evil  is  one  of  the  most  powerful 
restraints  upon  vice,  and  stimulants  to  virtue.  There  is,  in 
fact,  no  condition  in  which  man  is  placed,  no  good  or  evil 
that  he  meets,  which  is  not  eminently  adapted,  if  rightly  im- 
proved, to  discipline  and  strengthen  his  virtue.  Hence  we 
cannot  doubt  that  this  is  the  grand  object  of  the  present 
arrangements  of  the  world.  True,  if  misimproved,  the  same 
means  become  only  a  discipline  in  vice.  But  this  is  only  in 
conformity  with  a  general  principle  of  the  divine  government, 


WHY    DEATH    BEFORE    MAN.  247 

that  the  things  which  rightly  used  are  highly  salutary,  are 
proportionably  injurious  when  perverted. 

Fifthly.  The  subject  shows  us  a  reason  why  suffering  and 
death  prevailed  in  this  world  long  before  nnan's  existence. 

God  foresaw  —  I  will  not  say  foreordained,  though  he  cer- 
tainly permitted  it  —  that  man  would  transgress;  and,  there- 
fore, he  made  a  world  adapted  to  a  sinful  fallen  being,  rather 
than  to  one  pure  and  holy.  If  he  had  adapted  it  to  an  un- 
fallen  being,  and  then  changed  it  upon  his  apostasy,  that 
change  must  have  amounted  to  a  new  creation.  For,  as  I 
have  endeavored  to  show  in  a  previous  lecture,  (Lecture  III.,) 
the  whole  constitution  of  our  world,  and  even  its  relations  to 
other  worlds,  must  have  been  altered  to  fit  it  for  a  being  who 
had  sinned.  To  have  introduced  such  a  one  into  a  world 
fitted  up  for  the  perfectly  holy,  would  have  been  a  curse  in- 
stead of  a  blessing.  It  was  benevolence  on  the  part  of  God 
to  allow  evil  to  abound  in  a  world  which  was  to  be  the  resi- 
dence of  a  sinful  creature  ;  for  the  discipline  of  such  a  state 
was  the  only  chance  of  his  being  rescued  from  the  power  of 
sin,  and  restored  to  the  divine  favor. 

It  may  be  thought,  however,  inconsistent  with  divine  benev- 
olence to  place  the  inferior,  irrational  animals  in  a  condition 
of  suffering  because  man  would  transgress,  and  thus  punish 
creatures  incapable  of  sinning  for  his  transgression. 

Animals  do,  indeed,  suffer  in  such  a  world  as  ours  ;  but 
not  as  a  punishment  for  their  own  or  man's  sin.  The  only 
question  is,  Do  they  suffer  so  much  that  their  existence  is  not 
a  blessing  ?  Surely  experience  will  decide,  without  inquiring 
as  to  their  future  existence,  that  their  enjoyments,  as  a  gen- 
eral fact,  vastly  outweigh  their  sufferings  ;  and  hence  their 
existence  indicates  benevolence.  It  should  also  be  recollected 
that  their  natures  are  adapted   to  a  world  of  sin  and  death, 


248  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN   A    FALLEN    WORLD. 

and  they  are  doubtless  more  happy  here  than  they  would  be 
in  a  different  condition,  which  might  be  more  favorable  to 
unfallen  accountable  beings. 

Finally.  This  subject  harmonizes  infinite  and  perfect  be- 
nevolence in  God  with  the  existence  of  evil  on  earth. 

This  is  the  grand  problem  of  theology ;  and  though  I 
would  not  say  that  our  reasoning  clears  it  of  all  difficulties, 
yet  it  does  seem  to  me  that,  by  letting  the  light  of  this  sub- 
ject fall  upon  the  question,  we  come  nearer  to  its  solution 
than  by  viewing  it  in  any  other  aspect.  For  this  subject 
shows  us  that  benevolence  decidedly  predominates  in  all  the 
arrangements  of  the  material  universe,  and  then  it  assigns 
good  reasons  why  this  benevolence  is  not  unmixed  ;  in  other 
words,  why  severity  is  sometimes  mingled  with  goodness.  It 
shows  us  that  God,  with  a  prospective  view  of  man's  sin, 
adapted  the  world  to  a  fallen  being ;  making  it,  instead  of  a 
place  of  unmingled  happiness,  a  state  of  trial  and  discipline  ; 
not  as  a  full  punishment,  (for  that  is  reserved  to  a  future 
state,)  but  as  an  essential  means  of  delivering  this  immortal 
being  from  his  ruin  and  misery,  and  of  fitting  him  for  future 
and  endless  holiness  and  happiness.  Thus,  instead  of  indi- 
cating indifference  or  malevolence  in  God,  because  he  intro- 
duced evil  into  the  world,  it  is  a  striking  evidence  of  his 
benevolence.  Such  a  plan  is,  in  fact,  the  conjoint  result  of 
infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence  for  rescuing  the  miserable 
and  the  lost.  Had  God  placed  such  a  being  in  a  world 
adapted  to  one  perfectly  holy,  his  sufferings  would  have  been 
vastly  greater,  and  his  rescue  hopeless. 

Thus  far  do  both  reason  and  revelation  conduct  us  in  a 
plain  path  ;  and  that,  probably,  is  as  far  as  is  necessary  for 
all  the  purposes  of  religion.  Up  to  this  point,  infinite  benev- 
olence pours  its  radiance  upon  the  path,  and  we  see  good 


WHY    DOES    EVIL    EXIST?  249 

reasons  for  the  evils  incident  to  this  life ;  nay,  we  see  that 
they  are  the  result  of  that  same  benevolence  which  strews 
the  way  with  blessings ;  that,  in  fact,  they  are  only  necessary 
means  of  the  greatest  blessings.  I  am  aware  that  there  is  a 
question  lying  farther  back,  in  the  outskirts  of  metaphysical 
theology,  which  still  remains  unanswered,  and  probably  never 
can  be  settled  in  this  world,  because  some  of  its  elements  are 
beyond  our  reach.  The  inquisitive  mind  asks  why  it  was 
necessary  for  infinite  wisdom  and  power  to  introduce  evil,  or 
allow  it  to  be  introduced,  into  any  system  of  created  things. 
Could  not  such  natures  have  been  bestowed  upon  creatures, 
that  good  only  might  have  been  their  portion  ?  A  plausible 
answer  is,  that  evil  exists  because  it  can  ultimately  be  made 
subservient  of  greater  good,  taking  the  whole  universe  into 
account,  than  another  system.  Certainly  to  fallen  man  we 
have  reason  to  believe  natural  evils  are  the  grand  means  of 
his  highest  good  ;  and  hence  we  derive  an  argument  for  the 
same  conclusion  in  respect  to  the  whole  system  of  evil.  In- 
deed, such  are  the  divine  attributes,  that  it  is  absurd  to  sup- 
pose God  would  create  any  system  which  was  not  the  best 
possible  in  existing  circumstances.  But  even  though  we 
cannot  solve  these  questions  in  their  abstract  form,  and  as 
applied  to  the  whole  creation,  it  is  sufficient  for  every  prac- 
tical purpose  of  religion  if  we  can  show,  as  we  have  endeav- 
ored to  do  in  this  lecture,  how  the  present  system  of  the  world 
for  a  fallen  being  illustrates,  instead  of  disproving,  the  divine 
benevolence. 

Here,  then,  is  the  resolution  of  some  of  the  darkest  enig- 
mas of  human  existence,  which  philosophy,  unaided  by  reve- 
lation, has  never  solved.  Here  we  get  hold  of  the  thread 
that  conducts  us  through  the  most  crooked  labyrinths  of  life, 


250  DIVINE    BENEVOLENCE    IN    A    FALLEN    WORLD. 

and  enables  us  to  let  into  the  deepest  dungeons  of  despond- 
ency and  doubt,  the  light  of  hope  and  of  heaven. 

Here,  too,  we  find  the  powerful  glass  by  which  we  can 
pierce  the  clouds  that  have  so  long  obscured  the  full-orbed 
splendors  of  the  divine  benevolence.  To  some,  indeed, — 
and  they  sagacious  philosophers,  —  that  cloud  has  seemed 
surcharged  only  with  vengeance.  And  even  to  those  who 
have  caught  occasional  glimpses  of  the  noble  orb  behind,  the 
cloud  over  its  face  has  always  seemed  to  be  tinged  whh 
some  angry  rays.  Indeed,  so  long  as  this  is  a  sinful  state, 
justice  will  not  allow  all  the  glories  of  the  divine  goodness  to 
be  revealed.  And  yet,  through  the  glass  which  philosophy 
and  faith  have  put  into  our  hands,  we  can  see  that  the  disk 
is  a  full-orbed  circle,  and  that  no  spots  mar  and  darken  its 
clear  surface.  How  gloriously,  then,  when  all  those  clouds 
shall  have  passed  away,  and  the  last  taint  of  evil  shall  have 
been  blotted  out  by  the  final  conflagration,  shall  that  sun,  in 
the  new  heavens,  send  down  its  light  and  heat  upon  the  new 
earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness  ! 

On  the  other  hand,  how  sad  the  prospect  which  the  analo- 
gies of  this  subject  open  before  him  who  misimproves  his 
earthly  probation,  and  goes  out  of  the  world  unprepared  for  a 
higher  and  purer  state  of  existence  !  If  we  can  see  reasons 
why  on  earth  God  should  mingle  goodness  and  severity  in 
this  man's  lot,  we  can  also  see  reasons  why  the  manifesta- 
tions of  benevolence  should  all  be  withdrawn  when  he  passes 
into  a  state  of  retribution.  For  if  an  individual  can  resist  the 
mighty  influences  for  good  which  the  present  state  of  disci- 
pline affords,  and  only  become  worse  under  them  all,  his  case 
is  utterly  hopeless,  and  Heaven  can  do  no  more,  consistently 
with  the  eternal  principles  of  the  divine  government,  to  save 


A    FATHER    INFLICTING    PUNISHMENT.  251 

him.  Infinite  benevolence  gives  hini  over,  and  no  longer 
holds  back  the  sword  of  retributive  justice.  Nay,  the  justice 
which  inflicts  the  punishment  is  only  benevolence  in  another 
form.  And  this  it  is  that  makes  the  infliction  intolerable. 
How  much  more  terrible  to  the  wayward  child  are  the  blows 
inflicted  by  a  weeping,  affectionate  father,  than  if  received 
from  an  enemy !  God  is  that  affectionate  Father ;  and  he 
punishes  only  because  he  loves  the  universe  more  than  the 
individual ;  and  he  has  exhausted  the  stores  of  infinite  mercy 
in  vain  to  save  him.  Wicked  men  sometimes  tell  us  that  they 
are  not  afraid  to  trust  themselves  in  the  hands  of  infinite  be- 
nevolence ;  whereas  it  is  eminently  this  quality  of  the  divine 
character  which,  above  all  others,  they  have  reason  to  fear. 
For  if,  even  in  this  world  of  probation  and  hope,  God  finds  it 
necessary  to  mingle  so  much  severity  with  goodness,  what 
but  a  cup  of  unmingled  bitterness  shall  be  put  into  his  hands 
who  goes  into  eternity  unrenewed  and  unpardoned,  and  finds 
that  even  infinite  benevolence  has  become  his  eternal  enemy ! 


252 


LECTURE     VIII. 

UNITY  OF  THE  DIVINE  PLAN  AND   OPERATION  IN 
ALL  AGES   OF  THE   WORLD'S  HISTORY. 

Contrivance,  adaptation,  and  design  are  some  of  the  most 
striking  features  of  the  natural  world.  They  are  obvious 
throughout  the  whole  range  of  creation,  in  the  minutest  as 
well  as  in  the  most  magnificent  objects ;  in  the  most  compli- 
cated as  well  as  in  the  most  simple.  So  universally  present 
are  they,  that  whenever  we  meet  with  any  thing  in  nature 
which  seems  imperfectly  adapted  to  other  objects,  as  the  or- 
gan of  an  animal  or  plant,  which  exhibits  malformation,  it 
excites  general  attention,  and  the  mere  child  need  not  be  told 
that,  in  its  want  of  adaptation  to  other  objects,  it  is  an  excep- 
tion in  the  natural  world. 

In  order  to  illustrate  what  I  mean  by  contrivance,  adapta- 
tion, and  design,  let  me  refer  to  a  familiar  example  —  the 
human  eye.  Made  up  of  three  coats  and  three  humors,  of 
solids  and  fluids,  of  nerves,  blood-vessels,  and  muscles,  and 
rivalling  the  most  perfect  optical  instrument,  it  must  have 
required  the  most  consummate  contrivance  to  give  the  requi- 
site quantity  and  position  to  parts  so  numerous  and  unlike,  for 
producing  the  phenomena  of  vision.  Yet  how  perfectly  it  is 
done  !  How  few,  out  of  the  hundreds  of  millions  of  eyes  of  men 
and  other  animals,  fail  of  vision  through  any  natural  defect! 

No  less  marvellous  are  the  adaptations  of  the  eye.  In 
order  to  be  adapted  to   the  wonderful  effect  which  we  call 


STRUCTURE    OF    THE    EYE.  253 

light,  its  coats  and  humors  must  be  transparent,  and  possess 
a  certain  density  and  opacity,  that  the  rays  may  form  an 
image  on  the  retina.  Yet  to  prevent  confusion  in  the  image, 
the  transparency  must  be  confined  to  the  central  parts  of  the 
eye,  and  a  dark  plexus  of  veins  and  muscles  must  be  so  situ- 
ated as  to  absorb  the  scattering  rays.  In  order  to  adapt  the 
eye  to  different  distances,  and  to  the  greater  or  less  intensity 
of  the  light,  delicate  muscles  must  be  so  situated  as  to  con- 
tract and  dilate  the  pupil,  and  lengthen  and  shorten  the  axis. 
That  the  eye  might  be  directed  to  different  objects,  strong 
muscles  must  be  attached  to  its  posterior  surface  ;  and  that 
the  eyelid  might  defend  it  from  injuries  in  front,  a  very  pecu- 
liar muscle  must  give  it  power  to  close.  No  less  perfect  is 
the  adaptation  of  the  eye  to  the  atmosphere,  or,  rather,  there 
is  a  mutual  adaptation ;  and  it  is  as  proper  to  say  that  the 
atmosphere  is  adapted  to  the  eye,  as  that  the  eye  is  adapted 
to  the  atmosphere.  In  like  manner,  there  is  a  striking  rela- 
tion between  the  eye  and  the  sun  and  other  heavenly  bodies, 
and  between  the  eye  and  day  and  night ;  so  that  we  cannot 
doubt  but  they  were  made  for  one  another.  We  might,  in- 
deed, extend  the  relations  of  the  eye  to  every  object  in  the 
universe  ;  and  the  same  may  be  said  of  every  organ  of  plants 
and  animals.  The  adaptation  between  them  is  as  wide  as 
creation.  And  it  is  the  wonderful  harmony  between  so  many 
millions  of  objects  that  makes  us  feel  that  infinite  wisdom 
alone  could  have  produced  it. 

The  design  of  the  multiplied  contrivances  and  adaptations 
exhibited  by  the  eye  is  too  obvious  to  need  a  formal  state- 
ment. Comparatively  few  understand  the  wonderful  mechan- 
ism of  the  eye  ;  but  we  should  consider  it  proof  of  idiotism, 
or  insanity,  for  the  weakest  mind  to  doubt  what  is  the  object 
of  the  eye.  This  is,  to  be  sure,  a  striking  example.  But 
22 


254  UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

out  of  the  many  organs  of  animals,  how  few  are  there  of 
which  we  do  not  see  the  design  !  And  as  the  subject  is  more 
examined,  the  few  excepted  cases  are  made  still  fewer. 
They  are  more  numerous  in  plants,  because  we  cannot  so 
well  understand  them,  and  because  of  their  microscopic  little- 
ness. They  are  so  few,  however,  throughout  all  nature,  that 
they  never  produce  a  doubt  that,  for  every  individual  thing  in 
creation,  there  is  a  distinct  object.  If  we  confine  our  views 
to  the  most  simple  parts  of  matter,  we  can  see  design  in 
them.  If  we  take  a  wider  view,  and  examine  those  minor 
systems  which  are  produced  by  the  grouping  of  the  elements 
of  matter,  we  shall  see  design  there ;  and  if  we  rise  still 
higher  in  our  examination,  and  compare  systems  still  more 
extensive,  until  we  group  all  material  things,  wise  and  beauti- 
ful design  is  still  inscribed  upon  all.  In  fine,  creation  is  but 
a  series  of  harmonies,  wheel  within  wheel,  in  countless  vari- 
ety, yet  all  forming  one  vast  and  perfect  machine.  Examine 
nature  as  widely  and  as  minutely  as  we  may,  we  never  find 
one  part  clashing  with  another  part ;  no  laws,  governing  one 
portion  of  creation,  different  from  those  governing  the  others. 
Amid  nature's  infinitely  diversified  productions  and  opera- 
tions we  find  but  one  original  model  or  pattern.  As  Dr. 
Paley  finely  expresses  it,  "  We  never  get  amongst  such  origi- 
nal or  totally  different  modes  of  existence  as  to  indicate  that 
we  are  come  into  the  province  of  a  different  Creator,  or  under 
the  direction  of  a  different  will.""  All  appears  to  have  been 
the  work  of  one  mighty  mind,  capable  of  devising  and  creat- 
ing the  vast  system  so  perfectly  that  every  part  shall  beauti- 
fully harmonize  with  every  other  part ;  a  mind  capable  of 
holding  in  its  capacious  grasp  at  once  the  entire  system,  and 
seeing  the  relation  and  dependence  of  all  its  parts,  from  the 
minutest  atom  up  to  the  mightiest  world.     In  short,  the  unity 


PAST    SYSTEMS    OF    ORGANIC    LIFE.  255 

of  design  which  pervades  all  creation  is  perfect,  more  so 
than  we  witness  in  the  most  finished  machine  of  human 
construction  ;  for 

"In  human  works,  though,  labored  on  with  pain, 
A  thousand  movements  scarce  one  object  gain  ; 
In  God's,  one  single  can  its  end  produce. 
Yet  serves  to  second  too  some  other  use." 

Such  are  the  wonderful  contrivance,  adaptation,  and  design 
which  the  material  world  every  where  exhibits.  But  the 
geologist  carries  us  back  through  periods  of  immense  an- 
tiquity, and  digs  out  from  the  deep  strata  evidences  of  other 
systems  of  organic  life,  which  have  flourished  and  passed 
away;  other  economies,  which  have  existed  on  the  globe 
anterior  to  the  present.  And  how  was  it  with  these  ?  Had 
they  any  relation  to  the  existing  system  ?  Were  they  gov- 
erned by  different  laws,  or  are  they  all  but  parts  of  one  great 
and  harmonious  system,  embracing  the  whole  of  the  earth's 
past  duration  ?  We  could  not  decide  these  questions  before- 
hand ;  but  geology  brings  to  light  unequivocal  evidence  that 
the  latter  supposition  is  the  true  one ;  that  is,  in  the  language 
of  the  poet,  — 

"  All  are  but  parts  of  one  stupendous  whole, 
AVliose  body  nature  is,  and  God  the  soul." 

To  present  the  evidence  of  this  conclusion  will  be  my  object 
in  this  lecture. 

In  thejirst  place,  the  laws  of  chemistry  and  crystallography, 
electricity  and  magnetism,  have  ever  been  the  same  in  all  past 
conditions  of  the  earth. 

Chemistry  has  attained  to  such  a  degree  of  perfection  that 


256  UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

the  analyst  can  now  determine  the  composition  of  the  various 
vegetable,  animal,  and  mineral  substances  which  he  meets, 
with  an  extreme  degree  of  accuracy.  In  many  instances,  he 
can  do  this  in  two  ways.  He  can  always  separate  the  ele- 
ments which  exist  in  a  compound,  and  ascertain  their  relative 
quantity  ;  and  this  is  called  analysis.  And  sometimes  he  can 
take  those  elements  and  cause  them  to  unite,  so  as  to  form  a 
particular  compound  ;  and  this  is  called  synthesis.  By  these 
methods  he  has  ascertained  that,  amid  the  vast  variety  of  sub- 
stances in  nature,  there  are  only  about  sixty-four  which  cannot 
be  reduced  to  a  more  simple  form,  and  are  therefore  called 
elements.,  or  simple  substances.  Now,  the  chemist  finds  that, 
when  these  elements  unite  to  form  compounds,  certain  fixed 
laws  are  invariably  followed.  They  combine  in  definite 
quantities,  which  are  always  the  same,  or  some  multiple  of 
the  same  weight ;  so  that  each  element  has  its  peculiar  and 
invariable  combining  weight ;  and  it  cannot  be  made  to  com- 
bine in  any  other  proportion.  You  may  mix  two  or  more 
elements  together  in  any  proportion,  but  it  is  only  a  certain 
definite  quantity  of  each  that  will  combine,  while  the  rest 
will  remain  in  excess.  Hence  the  same  compound  substance, 
from  whatever  part  of  the  world  it  comes,  or  under  however 
diverse  circumstances  produced,  consists  of  the  same  ingre- 
dients in  the  same  proportion.  These  laws  are  followed  with 
mathematical  precision,  and  we  have  reason  to  believe  that 
the  same  compound  substance,  produced  in  different  parts  of 
the  world,  never  differs  in  its  composition  by  the  smallest  con- 
ceivable particle.  Indeed,  with  the  exception  of  the  plan- 
etary motions  and  crystallography,  chemical  combination  is 
the  most  perfect  example  of  practical  mathematics  to  be 
found  in  nature. 

Such  are  the  laws  which  the  chemist  finds  invariably  to 


CHEMICAL    LAWS.  257 

regulate  all  the  changes  that  now  take  place  in  the  constitution 
of  bodies.  AVhat  evidence  is  there  that  the  same  laws  have 
ever  prevailed  ?  In  the  rocks  we  have  chemical  compounds, 
produced  in  all  ages  of  the  world's  history,  since  fire  and 
water  began  to  form  solid  masses.  Now,  these  may  be,  and 
have  been,  analyzed  ;  and  the  same  laws  of  definite  propor- 
tion in  the  ingredients,  which  now  operate,  are  found  to  have 
controlled  their  formation.  The  oldest  granite  and  gneiss, 
which  must  have  been  the  earliest  rocks  produced,  are  just  as 
invariable  in  their  composition  as  the  most  recent  salt  formed 
in  the  laboratory.  And  the  same  is  true  of  the  silicates,  the 
carbonates,  the  sulphates,  the  oxides,  chlorides,  fluorides,  and 
other  compounds  which  constitute  the  rocks  of  different  ages. 
We  never  find  any  produced  under  the  operation  of  dif- 
ferent laws. 

Now,  the  almost  invariable  opinion  among  chemists  is,  that 
the  reason  why  the  elements  unite  thus  definitely  is,  that  they 
are  in  different  electrical  states,  and  therefore  attract  one 
another.  Hence  the  most  important  laws  of  electricity  have 
been  coeval  with  those  of  chemistry  ;  indeed,  they  are  iden- 
tical ;  nor  can  we  doubt,  if  such  be  the  fact,  that  every  other 
electrical  law  has  remained  unchanged  from  the  beginning. 
And  from  the  intimate  connection,  if  not  complete  identity, 
between  electricity  and  magnetism,  it  is  impossible  to  doubt 
that  the  laws  which  regulate  the  latter  are  of  equal  antiquity 
with  those  of  the  former.  Indeed,  we  find  evidence  in  all  the 
rocks,  especially  those  which  are  prismatic  and  concretionary, 
of  the  active  influence  of  galvanism  and  electro-magnetism  in 
their  production. 

The  reasoning  is  equally  decisive  to  prove  the  unchanging 
character  of  the  laws  which  regulate  the  formation  of  crystals. 
The  chemist  finds  that  the  same  substance,  when  it  crystal- 
22* 


258  UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

lizes,  invariably  takes  the  same  geometrical  forms.  The 
nucleus  or  primary  form,  with  a  few  exceptions,  of  no  im- 
portance in  the  present  argument,  to  which  all  these  second- 
ary forms  may  be  reduced  by  change,  is  one  particular  solid, 
with  unvarying  angles ;  and  all  the  secondary  forms,  built 
upon  the  primary,  correspond  in  their  angles.  In  short,  in 
crystallography  we  have  another  example  of  perfect  practical 
mathematics,  as  perfect  as  the  theory. 

Now,  the  oldest  rocks  in  the  globe  contain  crystals,  and  so 
do  the  rocks  of  all  ages,  sometimes  of  the  same  kind  as  those 
produced  in  the  chemist's  laboratory.  And  they  are  found  to 
correspond  precisely.  It  matters  not  whether  they  were  the 
produce  of  nature's  laboratory  countless  ages  ago,  or  of  the 
skill  of  the  nineteenth  century,  —  the  same  mathematics  ruled 
in  their  formation  with  a  precision  which  infinite  wisdom  alone 
could  secure. 

Li  the  second  place,  the  laios  of  meteorology  have  ever  heen 
the  same  as  at  present. 

Under  meteorological  laws  I  include  all  atmospheric  phe- 
nomena. And  although  we  have  no  direct  proof  from  geol- 
ogy in  respect  to  the  more  rare  of  these  phenomena,  such  as 
the  aurora  borealis  and  australis,  and  transient  meteors,  yet 
in  respect  to  the  existence  of  clouds,  wind,  and  rain,  the  evi- 
dence is  quite  striking.  In  several  places  in  Europe,  and  in 
many  in  this  country,  are  found,  upon  layers  of  the  new  red 
sandstone,  the  distinct  impressions  of  rain  drops,  made  when 
the  rock  was  fine  mud.  They  correspond  precisely  with  the 
indentations  which  falling  rain-drops  now  make  upon  mud, 
and  they  show  us  that  the  phenomena  of  clouds  and  storms 
existed  in  that  remote  period,  and  that  the  vapor  was  con- 
densed as  at  present.  In  the  fact  that  the  animals  entombed 
in  the  rocks  of  various  ages  are  found  to  have  had  organs  of 


AGENTS    OF    CHANGE.  259 

respiration,  we  also  infer  the  existence  of  an  atmosphere  anal- 
ogous to  that  which  we  now  breathe.  The  rain-drops  enable 
us  to  proceed  one  step  farther ;  for  often  they  are  elongated 
in  one  direction,  showing  that  they  struck  the  ground  obliquely, 
doubtless  in  consequence  of  wind.  In  short,  the  facts  stated 
enable  us  to  infer,  with  strong  probability,  that  atmospheric 
phenomena  were  then  essentially  the  same  as  at  present ;  and 
analogy  leads  us  to  a  similar  conclusion  as  to  all  the  past  pe- 
riods of  the  world's  history,  certainly  since  animals  were  placed 
upon  it.  What  a  curious  register  do  these  rain-drops  present 
us  !  an  engraving  on  stone  of  a  shower  that  fell  thousands 
and  thousands  of  ages  ago  !  They  often  become,  too,  an 
anemoscope,  pointing  out  the  direction  of  the  wind,  while  the 
petrified  surface  shows  us  just  how  many  drops  fell,  quite  as 
accurately  as  the  most  delicate  pluviameter.  What  events  in 
the  earth's  pre-Adamic  history  would  seem  less  likely  to  come 
down  to  us  than  the  pattering  of  a  shower  ? 

In  the  third  place,  the  agents  of  geological  change  appear 
to  have  heeii  always  the  same  on  the  earth. 

Whoever  goes  into  a  careful  examination  of  the  rocks  will 
soon  become  satisfied  that  no  fragment  of  them  all  remains  in 
the  condition  in  which  it  was  originally  created.  Whatever 
was  the  original  form  in  which  matter  was  produced,  there  is 
no  longer  any  example  of  it  to  be  found.  The  evidence  of 
these  changes  is  as  strong  almost  as  that  constant  changes  are 
going  on  in  human  society.  And  we  find  them  constantly 
progressing  among  the  rocks,  as  well  as  among  men  ;  nor  do 
the  agents  by  which  they  are  produced  appear  to  have  been 
ever  different  from  those  now  in  operation.  The  two  most 
important  are  heat  and  water ;  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  there 
is  a  single  particle  of  the  globe  which  has  not  experienced  the 
metamorphic  action  of  the  one  or  the  other.     Indeed,  it  is 


260  UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

nearly  certain  that  every  portion  of  the  globe  has  been  melted, 
if  not  volatilized.  All  the  unstratified  rocks  have  certainly 
been  fused,  and  probably  all  the  stratified  rocks  originated 
from  the  unstratified,  and  have  been  modified  by  water  and  heat. 
In  many  of  these  rocks,  especially  the  oldest,  we  perceive  evi- 
dence of  the  joint  action  of  both  these  agents.  Evidently 
they  were  once  aqueous  deposits ;  but  they  appear  to  have 
been  subsequently  subjected  to  powerful  heat.  As  we  ascend 
on  the  scale  of  the  stratified  rocks,  the  marks  of  fire  diminish, 
and  those  of  water  multiply,  so  that  the  latest  are  mere  me- 
chanical or  chemical  depositions  from  water. 

In  these  facts,  then,  we  see  proof  that  heat  and  water  have 
been  the  chief  agents  of  geological  change  since  the  first 
formation  of  a  solid  crust  on  the  globe  ;  for  some  of  the  rocks 
now  accessible,  as  already  stated,  date  their  origin  at  that 
early  period.  We  might  also  trace  back  the  agency  of  heat 
much  farther,  if  the  hypothesis  adopted  by  not  a  few  eminent 
geologists  be  true,  which  supposes  the  earth  to  have  been 
once  in  a  gaseous  state  from  intense  heat.  But  to  press  this 
point  will  add  very  little  to  my  argument,  even  could  I  sus- 
tain it  by  plausible  reasoning.  I  will  only  say,  that,  so  far  as 
we  know  any  thing  of  the  state  of  the  earth  previous  to  the 
consolidation  of  its  crust,  heat  appears  to  have  been  the  chief 
agent  concerned  in  its  geological  changes. 

Among  other  agencies  of  less  importance,  that  have  always 
operated  geologically,  is  gravity.  Its  chief  effect,  at  present, 
is  to  bring  the  earth's  surface  nearer  and  nearer  to  a  level,  by 
causing  the  materials,  which  other  agencies  have  loosened 
from  its  salient  parts,  to  subside  into  its  cavities  and  valleys. 
It  also  condenses  many  substances  from  a  gaseous  to  a  liquid 
or  solid  state,  especially  those  deep  in  the  earth's  crust,  and 
thus  brings  the  particles  more  within  the  reach  of  cohesive 


EARLY    AGENCIES.  261 

attraction  and  chemical  affinity,  often  changing  the  constitu- 
tion, and  always  the  solidity,  of  bodies.  And  in  the  position 
of  the  ancient  mechanical  rocks,  occupying  as  they  do  the 
former  basins  of  the  surface,  and  in  the  superior  consolida- 
tion of  the  earlier  strata,  we  find  proof  of  the  action  of  gravity 
in  all  past  geological  time. 

Electricity  too,  in  the  form  of  galvanism,  has  never  been 
idle.  We  have  reason  to  think  that  it  operates  at  this  moment 
in  accumulating  metallic  ores  in  veins ;  and  this  segregation 
appears  to  have  operated  in  all  ages,  not  only  in  filling  veins, 
but  also,  probably,  in  giving  a  laminated  character  and  jointed 
structure  to  mountains  of  slate,  as  well  as  a  concretionary 
and  prismatic  form  to  others. 

Last,  though  not  least,  we  may  reckon  among  the  agents 
of  geological  change  the  forces  of  cohesion  and  affinity. 
When  water  and  heat,  gravity  and  galvanism,  have  brought 
the  atoms  of  bodies  into  a  proper  state,  these  agents  are  al- 
ways ready  to  change  their  form  and  constitution  ;  and  thfey 
have  ever  been  at  hand  to  operate  by  the  same  laws,  and  we 
witness  their  effects  in  the  oldest  as  well  as  the  newest  rocks 
found  in  the  earth's  crust.  This  point,  however,  has  been 
sufficiently  considered,  when  treating  of  the  unvarying  uni- 
formity of  the  laws  of  chemistry  and  crystallography. 

But  though  the  nature  of  the  agencies  above  considered  has 
never  changed,  the  intensity  or  amount  of  their  action  has 
varied  ;  how  much  is  a  point  not  yet  settled  among  geologists. 
Some  regard  that  intensity,  as  it  has  existed  during  the  present 
or  alluvial  period,  as  a  standard  for  all  preceding  periods  ; 
that  is,  the  intensity  of  these  forces  has  never  varied  more 
during  any  period  of  the  earth's  history  than  it  has  since  the 
alluvial  period  commenced.  Most  geologists,  however,  regard 
this  as  an  extreme  opinion,  and  think  they  see  evidence  in 


262  UNITY    OF   THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

geology  of  a  far  greater  intensity  in  these  agencies  in  past 
periods  than  exists  at  present.  They  think  they  have  proof 
that  the  world  was  once  only  a  molten  mass  of  matter,  and 
some  evidence  that  previously  it  was  in  a  state  of  vapor. 
They  believe  that  vast  mountains,  and  even  continents,  have 
sometimes  been  thrown  up  from  the  ocean's  bed  by  a  single 
mighty  paroxysmal  effort ;  and  such  effects  they  know  to  be 
far  greater  than  the  causes  of  change  now  in  operation  can 
produce,  without  a  vast  increase  of  their  intensity.  But  this 
question  need  neither  be  discussed  nor  decided  for  the  sake 
of  my  present  argument,  since  my  object  is  to  prove  an  iden- 
tity in  the  nature  and  laws,  not  in  the  intensity,  of  geological 
agencies. 

In  the  fourth  place,  the  laios  of  zoology  and  botany  have 
always  been  the  same  on  the  globe. 

An  examination  of  the  animals  now  living,  amounting  to 
some  hundred  thousand  species,  perhaps  to  one  or  two  mil- 
lions, shows  that  they  may  be  arranged  in  four  great  classes. 
The  first  class  embraces  the  vertebral  animals,  distinguished 
by  having  a  vertebral  column,  or  back-bone,  a  regular  skele- 
ton, and  a  regular  nervous  system.  It  comprehends  all  the 
quadrupeds  and  bipeds,  with  man  at  their  head,  and  is  much 
superior  to  all  other  classes  in  complexity  of  organization  and 
strength  of  the  mental  powers.  The  second  class  embraces 
the  mollusks,  or  animals  inhabiting  shells.  They  are  desti- 
tute of  a  spinal  marrow,  and  for  the  most  part  their  muscles 
are  attached  to  the  external  covering,  called  the  shell,  al- 
though this  shell  is  sometimes  internal.  The  third  class  are 
called  articulated  animals,  having  envelopes  connected  by 
annulated  plates,  or  rings.  It  includes  such  animals  as  the 
lobster,  bloodsucker,  spider,  and  insects  generally.  The 
fourth  class  have  a  radiated  structure,  and  often  resemble 


THE    GREAT    CLASSES    ALWAYS    EXISTED.  263 

plants,  or  their  habitation  is  a  stony  structure.  Hence  they 
are  sometimes  called  zoophytes,  which  means  animal  plants ; 
or  lithophytes,  which  means  stony  plants.  They  swarm  in 
the  ocean,  and  some  of  them  build  up  those  extensive  stony 
structures  called  coral  reefs. 

Now,  if  we  examine  the  descriptions  of  the  organic  remains 
in  the  rocks,  we  find  that  in  all  ages  of  the  world  these  four 
great  classes  of  animals  have  existed.  But  in  the  earliest 
times,  the  three  last  classes  —  the  moll usks,  the  articulated, 
and  the  radiated  tribes  —  vasUy  preponderated,  while  the  ver- 
tebral class  had  only  a  few  representatives ;  and  it  is  not  till 
we  rise  as  high  as  the  new  red  sandstone,  that  we  meet  with 
any,  except  fishes,  save  a  few  batrachians  in  the  old  red  sand- 
stone, and  the  carboniferous  group,  detected  alone  by  their 
tracks.  Then  the  reptiles  began  to  appear  in  abundance, 
with  tortoises  and  enormous  birds  of  a  low  organization,  but 
no  mammiferous  animal  is  found,  until  we  reach  the  oolite  ; 
and  scarcely  any  till  we  rise  to  the  tertiary  strata,  when  they 
became  abundant ;  but  not  so  numerous  as  at  present,  though 
for  the  most  part  of  larger  size.  Thus  we  find  that  the  more 
perfect  animals  have  been  developed  gradually,  becoming 
more  and  more  complex  as  we  rise  on  the  scale  of  the  rocks. 
But  in  the  three  other  classes,  there  does  not  appear  to  have 
been  much  advance  upon  the  original  types,  although  in  num- 
bers and  variety  there  has  been  a  great  increase. 

The  plants  now  growing  upon  the  globe,  amounting  proba- 
bly to  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  species,  are  divided  into 
two  great  classes,  by  a  very  decided  character.  Some  of 
them  have  distinct  flowers,  and  others  are  destitute  of  them. 
The  former  are  called  phenogamian,  or  flowering  plants  ;  and 
the  latter  cryptogamian,  or  flowerless  plants. 

At  present,  the  flowering  plants  very  much  predominate  in 


264  UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

the  flora  of  every  country.  But  in  the  earliest  periods  of 
organic  existence,  the  reverse  was  the  case.  We  find,  indeed, 
but  very  few  flowering  plants,  and  these  of  a  character  some- 
what intermediate  between  flowering  and  flowerless ;  such 
as  the  coniferse  and  cycadeae,  including  the  pine  tribe.  A 
few  palms  appeared  almost  as  early,  and  some  other  monocot- 
yledons. But  most  of  the  dicotyledons  did  not  appear  till  the 
tertiary  period,  where  more  than  two  hundred  species  have 
been  found.  Of  the  three  hundred  species  found  in  and  be- 
neath the  carboniferous  group,  two  thirds  are  tree  ferns,  or 
gigantic  equisetaceae.  More  than  one  third  of  the  entire  flora 
of  the  secondary  formation  consists  of  cycadeae  ;  whereas, 
this  family  of  plants  forms  not  more  than  the  two  thousandth 
part  of  the  existing  flora.  In  short,  we  find  the  more  perfect 
plants  as  well  as  animals  to  be  few  in  the  earliest  periods,  and 
to  have  been  gradually  introduced  up  to  the  present  time. 
But  as  to  the  flowerless  plants,  most  of  them  seem  to  have 
been  as  perfect  at  first  as  they  now  are. 

These  facts  teach  us  conclusively  that  the  outlines  of  or- 
ganic life  on  the  globe  have  always  been  the  same  ;  that  the 
great  classes  of  animals  and  plants  have  always  had  their  rep- 
resentatives, and  that  the  variations  which  have  been  intro- 
duced, have  been  merely  adaptations  to  the  varying  condition 
of  the  earth's  surface.  The  higher  and  more  complex  na- 
tures, both  of  animals  and  plants,  were  not  introduced  at  first, 
because  the  surface  was  not  adapted  to  their  existence  ;  and 
they  were  brought  in  only  as  circumstances,  favorable  to  their 
development,  prepared  the  way. 

There  is  another  fact  of  great  interest  on  this  subject.  Even 
a  cursory  examination  of  the  animals  and  plants  now  on  the 
globe,  shows  such  a  gradation  of  their  characters  that  they 
form  a  sort  of  chain,  extending  from  the  most  to  the  least  per- 


LOST    TRIBES    FOUND    IN    THE    ROCKS.  265 

feet  species.  But  we  see  at  once  that  the  links  of  this  chain 
are  of  very  unequal  length  ;  or,  rather,  that  there  are  in  some 
instances  wide  intervals  between  the  nearest  species,  as  if  one 
or  more  links  had  dropped  out.  How  remarkable  that  some 
of  these  lost  links  should  be  found  among  the  fossil  species  ! 
I  will  refer  to  a  few  examples. 

Among  existing  animals  no  genera  or  tribes  are  more  widely 
separated  than  those  wdth  thick  skins,  denominated  pachyder- 
mata ;  such  as  the  rhinoceros  and  the  elephant.  But  among 
the  fossil  animals  of  the  tertiary  strata,  this  tribe  of  animals 
was  much  more  common  ;  and  many  of  them  fill  up  the 
blanks  in  the  existing  families,  and  thus  render  more  perfect 
and  uniform  the  great  chain  of  being  which  binds  together 
into  one  great  system  the  present  and  past  periods  of  organic 
life. 

A  similar  case  occurs  among  fossil  plants.  In  tropical  cli- 
mates we  find  a  few  species  —  not  much  over  twenty  —  of  a 
singular  family  of  plants,  the  cycadese  connecting  the  great  fam- 
ilies of  coniferse,  or  dicotyledons,  with  the  palms,  which  are  mo- 
nocotyledonous,  and  the  ferns,  which  are  acotyledonous.  The 
chasm,  however,  between  those  great  and  dissimilar  classes 
of  plants  is  but  imperfectly  filled  by  the  few  living  species  of 
cycadege.  But  of  the  fossil  species  hitherto  found  above  the 
coal  formation,  almost  one  half  are  cycadese  ;  so  that  here, 
too,  the  lost  links  of  the  chain  are  supplied. 

"  Facts  like  these,"  says  Dr.  Buckland,  "  are  inestimably 
precious  to  the  natural  theologian,  for  they  identify,  as  it 
were,  the  Artificer,  by  details  of  manipulation  throughout  his 
works.  They  appeal  to  the  physiologist,  in  language  more 
commanding  than  human  eloquence  ;  the  voice  of  very  stocks 
and  stones,  that  have  been  buried  for  countless  ages  in  the 
deep  recesses  of  the  earth,  proclaiming  the  universal  agency 
23 


2GG  UNITi'    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

of  one  all-directing,  all-sustaining  Creator,  in  whose  will  and 
power  these  harmonious  systems  originated,  and  by  whose 
universal  providence  they  are,  and  have  at  all  times  been, 
maintained," — Bridgewater  Treatise^  vol.  i.  p.  502. 

One  other  fact,  showing  the  identity  of  former  zoological 
laws  with  those  v/hich  now  prevail,  must  not  be  omitted.  1 
refer  to  the  existence  on  the  globe  in  all  past  periods  of  or- 
ganic life  of  the  two  great  classes  of  carnivorous  and  herbivo- 
rous animals  ;  and  they  have  always  existed,  too,  in  about  the 
same  proportion.  To  the  harmony  and  happiness  of  the  pres- 
ent system,  we  know  that  the  existence  and  proper  relative 
number  of  these  different  classes  are  indispensable.  For  in 
order  that  the  greatest  possible  number  of  animals  that  live 
on  vegetable  food  should  exist,  they  must  possess  the  power 
of  rapid  multiplication,  so  that  there  should  be  born  a  much 
larger  number  than  is  necessary  to  people  the  earth.  But  if 
there  existed  no  carnivorous  races  to  keep  in  check  this  re- 
dundancy of  population,  the  world  would  soon  become  so  filled 
with  the  herbivorous  races  that  famine  would  be  the  conse- 
quence, and  thus  a  much  greater  amount  of  suffering  result 
than  the  sudden  death  inflicted  by  carnivorous  races  now  pro- 
duces. To  preserve,  then,  a  proper  balance  between  the  dif- 
ferent species  is,  doubtless,  the  object  of  the  creation  of  the 
carnivorous.  This  system  has  been  aptly  denominated  "  the 
police  of  nature."  And  w^e  find  it  to  have  always  existed. 
The  earliest  vertebral  animals  —  the  sauroid  fishes  and  sharks 
—  were  of  this  description.  The  sharks  have  always  lived, 
but  the  sauroid  fishes  became  less  numerous  when  other  ma- 
rine saurians  were  created  ;  and  when  they  both  nearly  disap- 
peared, during  the  tertiary  period,  other  predaceous  families 
were  introduced,  more  like  those  now  in  existence. 

The  history  of  the  mollusks,  or  animals  inhabiting  shells, 


ANATOMICAL    LAWS    THE    SAME.  267 

furnishes  us  with  an  example  still  more  striking.  These  ani- 
mals, as  they  now  exist,  are  divisible  into  the  two  great  classes 
of  carnivorous  and  herbivorous  species,  being  distinguished 
by  their  anatomical  structure  ;  and  so  has  it  ever  been.  In 
the  fossiliferous  rocks  below  the  tertiary,  we  find  immense 
numbers  of  nautili,  ammonites,  and  other  kindred  genera  of 
polythalamous  shells,  called  cephalopods,  which  were  all  car- 
nivorous. And  when  they  nearly  disappeared  with  the  creta- 
ceous period,  there  was  created  another  race  with  carnivorous 
propensities  and  organs,  called  trachelipods  ;  and  those  con- 
tinue still  to  swarm  in  the  ocean.  Had  they  not  appeared 
when  the  cephalopods  passed  away,  the  herbivorous  tribes 
would  have  multiplied  to  such  an  extent  as  ultimately  to  de- 
stroy marine  vegetation,  and  bring  on  famine  among  them- 
selves. 

These  examples  are  sufficient  to  prove  the  existence  of  the 
carnivorous  and  herbivorous  races  in  all  ages  and  in  about 
the  same  relative  numbers.  And  it  certainly  furnishes  most 
decisive  evidence  of  the  oneness  of  all  these  systems  of  or- 
ganic life  on  the  globe. 

In  the  fifth  ylace^  the  Imcs  of  anatomy  have  always  been 
the  same  since  organic  structures  began  to  exist. 

It  had  long  been  known  that  the  organs  of  animals  were 
beautifully  adapted  to  perform  the  functions  for  which  they 
were  intended.  But  it  was  not  till  the  investigations  of 
Baron  Cuvier,  within  the  last  half  century,  that  it  was  known 
how  mathematically  exact  is  the  relation  between  the  different 
parts  of  the  animal  frame,  nor  how  precise  are  the  laws  of 
variation  in  the  different  species,  by  which  they  are  fitted  to 
different  elements,  climates,  and  food.  It  is  now  well  known, 
that  each  animal  structure  contains  a  perfect  system  of  corre- 
lation, and  yet  the  whole  forms  a  harmonious  part  of  the  en- 


268  UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

tire  animal  system  on  the  globe.  But  the  language  of  Cuvier 
himself  will  best  elucidate  this  subject,  so  far  as  it  is  capable 
of  popular  explanation. 

"  Every  organized  individual,"  says  he,  "  forms  an  entire 
system  of  its  own  ;  all  the  parts  of  which  mutually  corre- 
spond, and  concur  to  produce  a  certain  definite  purpose,  by 
reciprocal  reaction,  or  by  combining  towards  the  'same  end. 
Hence  none  of  these  separate  parts  can  change  their  forms 
without  a  corresponding  change  in  the  other  parts  of  the  same 
animal,  and  consequently  each  of  these  parts,  taken  sepa- 
rately, indicates  all  the  other  parts  to  which  it  has  belonged. 
Thus,  if  the  viscera  of  any  animal  are  so  organized  as  only 
to  be  fitted  for  the  digestion  of  recent  flesh,  it  is  also  requisite 
that  the  jaws  should  be  so  constructed  as  to  fit  them  for  de- 
vouring prey  ;  the  claws  must  be  constructed  for  seizing  and 
tearing  it  to  pieces  ;  the  teeth  for  cutting  and  dividing  its 
flesh  ;  the  entire  system  of  the  limbs,  or  organs  of  motion,  for 
pursuing  and  overtaking  it ;  and  the  organs  of  sense,  for  dis- 
covering it  at  a  distance.  Nature,  also,  must  have  endowed 
the  brain  of  the  animal  with  instinct  sufficient  for  concealing 
itself,  and  for  laying  plans  to  catch  its  necessary  victims. 

"  In  order  that  the  jaw  may  be  well  adapted  for  laying  hold 
of  objects,  it  is  necessary  that  its  condyle  should  have  a  cer- 
tain form  ;  that  the  resistance,  the  moving  power,  and  the 
fulcrum,  should  have  a  certain  relative  position  with  respect 
to  each  other,  and  that  the  temporal  muscles  should  be  of  a 
certain  size  ;  the  hollow,  or  depression,  too,  in  which  these 
muscles  are  lodged,  must  have  a  certain  depth  ;  and  the  zygo- 
matic arch,  under  which  they  pass,  must  not  only  have  a  cer- 
tain degree  of  convexity,  but  it  must  be  sufficiently  strong  to 
support  the  action  of  the  masseter. 

"  To  enable  the  animal  to  carry  off"  its  prey  v/hen  seized,  a 


COMPARATIVE    ANATOMY.  269 

corresponding  force  is  requisite  in  the  muscles  which  elevate 
the  head  ;  and  this  necessarily  gives  rise  to  a  determinate 
form  of  the  vertebrge,  to  \vhich  these  muscles  are  attached, 
and  of  the  occiput  into  which  they  are  inserted. 

"  In  order  that  the  teeth  of  a  carnivorous  animal  may  be 
able  to  cut  the  flesh,  they  require  to  be  sharp,  more  or  less  so 
in  proportion  to  the  greater  or  less  quantity  of  flesh  which 
they  have  to  cut.  It  is  requisite  that  their  roots  should  be 
solid  and  strong,  in  proportion  to  the  greater  quantity  and  size 
of  the  bones  which  they  have  to  break  to  pieces.  The  whole 
of  these  circumstances  must  necessarily  influence  the  devel- 
opment and  form  of  all  the  parts  which  contribute  to  move 
the  jaws. 

"  To  enable  the  claws  of  a  carnivorous  animal  to  seize  hs 
prey,  a  considerable  degree  of  mobility  is  necessary  in  their 
paws  and  toes,  and  a  considerable  strength  in  the  clav/s  them- 
selves. From  these  circumstances,  there  necessarily  result 
certain  determinate  forms  in  all  the  bones  of  their  paws,  and 
in  the  distribution  of  the  muscles  and  tendons  by  which  they 
are  moved.  The  fore  arm  must  possess  a  certain  facility  of 
moving  in  various  directions,  and  consequently  requires  cer- 
tain determinate  forms  in  the  bones  of  which  it  is  composed. 
As  the  bones  of  the  fore  arm  are  articulated  with  the  arm 
bone,  or  humerus,  no  change  can  take  place  in  the  form  or 
structure  of  the  former,  without  occasioning  correspondent 
changes  in  the  form  of  the  latter.  The  shoulder-blade,  also, 
or  scapula,  requires  a  correspondent  degree  of  strength  in  all 
animals  destined  for  catching  prey,  by  which  it  likewise  must 
necessarily  have  an  appropriate  form.  The  play  and  action 
of  all  these  parts  require  certain  proportions  in  the  muscles 
which  set  them  in  motion,  and  the  impressions  formed  by  these 
muscles  must  still  farther  determine  the  form  of  all  these  bones. 


270  UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

"  After  these  observations  it  will  easily  be  seen  that  similar 
conclusions  may  be  drawn  with  respect  to  the  hinder  limbs 
of  carnivorous  animals,  which  require  particular  conforma- 
tions to  fit  them  for  rapidity  of  motion  in  general ;  and  that 
similar  considerations  must  influence  the  forms  and  con- 
nections of  the  vertebrae  and  other  bones  constituting  the 
trunk  of  the  body,  and  to  fit  them  for  flexibility  and  readiness 
of  motion  in  all  directions.  The  bones,  also,  of  the  nose,  of 
the  orbit,  and  of  the  ears,  require  certain  forms  and  structures 
to  fit  them  for  giving  perfection  to  the  senses  of  smell,  sight, 
and  hearing,  so  necessary  to  animals  of  prey.  In  short,  the 
shape  and  structure  of  the  teeth  regulate  the  forms  of  the 
condyle,  of  the  shoulder-blade,  and  the  claws,  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  equation  of  a  curve  regulates  all  its  other 
properties  ;  and  as,  in  regard  to  a  particular  curve,  all  its 
properties  may  be  ascertained  by  assuming  each  separate 
property  as  the  foundation  of  a  particular  equation,  in  the 
same  manner  a  claw,  a  shoulder-blade,  a  condyle,  a  leg,  an 
arm  bone,  or  any  other  bone,  separately  considered,  enables 
us  to  discover  the  description  of  teeth  to  which  they  have 
belonged  ;  and  so,  also,  reciprocally,  we  may  determine  the 
form  of  the  other  bones  from  the  teeth.  Thus  commencing 
our  investigations  by  a  careful  survey  of  any  one  bone  by 
itself,  a  person  who  is  sufficiently  master  of  the  laws  of  or- 
ganic structure  may,  as  it  were,  reconstruct  the  whole  animal 
to  which  that  bone  had  belonged." 

After  applying  the  same  principle  to  animals  with  hoofs, 
Cuvier  comes  to  a  conclusion  even  more  surprising.  "  Hence," 
says  he,  "  any  one  who  observes  merely  the  print  of  a  cloven 
hoof,  may  conclude  that  it  has  been  left  by  a  ruminant  ani- 
mal, and  regard  the  conclusion  as  equally  certain  with  any 
other   in    physics    or    in    morals.      Consequently  this  single 


CORRELATIONS.  271 

footmark  clearly  indicates  to  the  observer  the  forms  of  the 
teeth,  of  all  the  leg  bones,  thighs,  shoulders,  and  of  the  trunk 
of  the  body  of  the  animal  which  left  the  mark.  It  is  much 
surer  than  all  the  marks  of  Zadig. 

"  By  thus  employing  the  method  of  observation,  where 
theory  is  no  longer  able  to  direct  our  views,  we  procure 
astonishing  results.  The  smallest  fragment  of  bone,  even 
the  most  apparently  insignificant  apophysis,  possesses  a  fixed 
and  determinate  character  relative  to  the  class,  order,  genus, 
and  species  of  the  animal  to  which  it  belonged  ;  insomuch 
that  when  we  find  merely  the  extremity  of  a  well-preserved 
bone,  we  are  able,  by  a  careful  examination,  assisted  by  anal- 
ogy and  exact  comparison,  to  determine  the  species  to  which 
it  once  belonged,  as  certainly  as  if  we  had  the  entire  animal 
before  us.  Before  venturing  to  put  entire  confidence  in  this 
method  of  investigation,  in  regard  to  fossil  bones,  I  have  very 
frequently  tried  it  with  portions  of  bones  belonging  to  well- 
known  animals,  and  always  with  such  complete  success,  that 
I  now  entertain  no  doubts  with  regard  to  the  results  which  it 
affords." 

The  remarkable  correlation  between  the  parts  of  existing 
animals  having  been  thus  proved  by  the  most  rigid  and  satis- 
factory tests,  we  shall  inquire  with  interest  for  the  result, 
when  Cuvier  applied  the  same  principles  to  the  fossil  animals. 
If  the  laws  of  anatomical  structure  were  the  same  when  these 
extinct  races  lived  as  they  now  are,  these  principles  will  apply 
equally  well  to  the  bones  found  in  the  rocks  ;  and  thougii 
often  only  scattered  fragments  are  brought  to  light,  the  anat- 
omist will  be  able  to  reconstruct  the  whole  animal,  and  pre- 
sent him  to  our  view.  Cuvier  was  the  first  who  solved  this 
problem.  The  quarries  around  Paris  had  furnished  a  vast 
number  of  bones  of  strange  animals,  and  these  were  throvv'n 


272  UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

promiscuously  into  the  collections  of  that  city.  Well  pre- 
pared by  previous  study,  this  distinguished  anatomist  went 
among  them  with  the  inquiry,  Can  these  bones  live  ?  The 
spirit  of  scientific  prophecy  was  upon  him,  and,  as  he  uttered 
his  inspirations,  there  loas  a  noise,  and  behold  a  shaking,  and 
the  bones  came  together,  bone  to  his  bone.  And  the  sineios 
and  the  Jlesh  came  upon  them,  and  the  skin  covered  them. 
"  1  found  myself,"  says  he,  "  as  if  placed  in  a  charnel-house, 
surrounded  by  mutilated  fragments  of  many  hundred  skele- 
tons of  more  than  twenty  kinds  of  animals,  piled  confusedly 
around  me.  The  task  assigned  me  was  to  restore  them  all 
to  their4)riginal  position.  At  the  voice  of  comparative  anat- 
omy, every  bone  and  fragment  of  a  bone  resumed  its  place. 
I  cannot  find  words  to  express  the  pleasure  I  experienced  in 
seeing,  as  I  discovered  one  character,  how  all  the  conse- 
quences which  I  predicted  from  it  were  successively  con- 
firmed ;  the  feet  were  found  in  accordance  with  the  characters 
announced  by  the  teeth  ;  the  teeth  in  harmony  with  those 
indicated  beforehand  by  the  feet ;  the  bones  of  the  legs  and 
thighs,  and  every  connecting  portion  of  the  extremities,  were 
found  set  together  precisely  as  I  had  arranged  thetn,  before 
my  conjectures  were  verified  by  the  discovery  of  the  parts 
entire  ;  in  short,  each  species  was,  as  it  were,  reconstructed 
from  a  single  one  of  its  component  elements." 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that,  since  this  first  successful 
experiment,  the  same  principles  have  been  more  thoroughly 
investigated  and  extended  with  the  same  success  into  every 
department  of  fossil  organic  nature.  The  results  which  have 
crowned  the  labors  of  such  men  as  Agassiz,  Ehrenberg, 
Kaup,  Goldfuss,  Bronn,  Blainville,  Brongniart,  Deshayes,  and 
D'Orbigny,  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  of  Conybeare, 
Buckland,  Mantell,  Lindley,  and  Hutton,  and  eminently  of 


PHYSIOLOGICAL    LAWS.  273 

Owen,  in  Great  Britain,  although  sustained  by  the  most  rigid 
principles  of  science,  are  nevertheless  but  little  short  of  mi- 
raculous ;  and  they  demonstrate  most  clearly  the  identity  of 
anatomical  laws,  in  all  ages,  among  animals  and  plants  of 
every  size  and  character,  from  the  lofty  lepidodendra  and 
sigillaria  to  the  humblest  moss  or  sea-weed,  and  from  the 
gigantic  dinotherium,  mastodon,  megatherium,  and  iguano- 
don,  to  the  infinitesimal  infusoria. 

In  the  sixth  place,  physiological  laws  have  always  been  the 
same  upon  the  globe. 

That  death  has  reigned  in  all  past  ages  over  all  animated 
tribes,  as  it  now  reigns,  so  that  in  that  war  there  has  never 
been  a  discharge,  I  need  not  attempt  formally  to  prove.  For 
the  preserved  and  petrified  relics  of  all  the  former  races,  that 
now  lie  entombed  in  the  rocks,  furnish  a  silent  but  impressive 
demonstration  of  the  former  triumph  of  that  great  physiologi- 
cal law,  which  is  stamped  by  the  signet  of  Jehovah  upon  all 
existing  organic  natures  —  Dust  thou  art,  and  unto  dust  shalt 
thou  return. 

Scarcely  more  necessary  is  it  to  attempt  to  show  that  the 
same  system  of  reproduction  for  filling  the  chasms  which 
death  occasions,  and  which  is  now  universal  in  the  animal 
and  vegetable  kingdoms,  has  always  existed.  Indeed,  such,  a 
system  is  a  necessary  counterpart  to  a  system  of  dissolution. 
And  we  find  the  same  phases  to  this  reproductive  system  in 
ancient  and  in  modern  periods.  Organic  remains  clearly 
teach  us  that  there  have  always  been  viviparous  as  well  as 
oviparous  creatures,  and  gemmiparous  as  well  as  fissiparous 
animals  and  plants.  The  second  great  physiological  law  of 
existing  nature  has,  then,  always  been  the  same. 

The  character  of  the  nourishment  by  which  animals  and 
plants  have  been  sustained   has  never  varied.      The  latter 


274  UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

have  ever  been  nourished  by  inorganic,  and  the  former  by- 
organic,  matter.  Some  animals  have  ever  fed  upon  the  flesh 
of  other  animals,  as  their  petrified  remains,  enclosing  the 
masticated  and  half-digested  fragments  of  other  animals,  tes- 
tify. Other  tribes  have  fed  only  upon  herbs  or  fruits  ;  and 
some  were  omnivorous ;  just,  in  fact,  as  we  find  the  habits  of 
existing  animals. 

No  less  certain  are  we  that  the  processes  of  digestion  and 
assimilation  have  ever  been  unchanged.  We  find  the  same 
organs  for  these  purposes  as  in  existing  animals,  viz.,  the 
mouth,  the  stomach,  the  intestines,  and  the  blood-vessels,  as 
the  coprolites  and  the  cololites  abundantly  testify.  We  infer, 
therefore,  with  great  confidence,  the  existence  of  gastric 
juice  and  bile  for  completing  the  transformation  of  the  food 
into  blood.  Indeed,  the  discovery  by  a  lady  (Miss  Mary 
Anning,  of  England)  of  that  singular  secretion  from  which 
the  color  called  India  ink  is  prepared,  with  the  ink-bag  of  the 
sepia,  or  loligo,  in  a  petrified  state,  shows  that  the  process 
of  secretion  existed  in  these  ancient  animals  ;  and  when  we 
find  that  in  all  respects  their  structure  was  like  that  of  exist- 
ing animals,  although  some  of  the  softer  vessels  have  not 
been  preserved,  we  cannot  doubt  but  the  entire  process  of 
digestion,  and  the  conversion  of  blood  into  bone,  nerve,  and 
muscle,  was  precisely  the  same  as  it  now  is. 

In  the  fact,  also,  that  we  find  in  fossil  specimens  organs  of 
respiration,  such  as  lungs,  gills,  and  trachea,  we  learn  that 
the  process  of  a  circulation  of  blood,  and  its  purification 
by  means  of  the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere,  have  never 
varied.  Animal  heat,  too,  dependent  as  it  is  essentially  upon 
this  oxygenating  process,  was  always  derived  from  the  same 
source  as  at  present. 

The    perfectly   preserved    minute    vessels    of    vegetables 


FUNCTIONAL    IDENTITY.  275 

enable  us,  by  means  of  the  microscope,  to  identify  them  with 
the  plants  now  alive  ;  and  they  prove,  too,  incontestably,  that 
the  nourishment  of  vegetables  has  always  been  of  the  same 
kind,  and  has  been  converted  into  the  various  proximate  prin- 
ciples of  plants  by  the  same  processes. 

Again.  We  have  evidence  that  these  ancient  animals  pos- 
sessed the  same  senses  as  their  congeneric  races  now  on  the 
globe.  We  have  one  good  example  in  which  that  most  deli- 
cate organ,  the  eye,  is  most  perfectly  preserved.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  visual  organ  of  insects  and  of  crustaceans  is 
composed  of  a  multitude  —  often  several  hundreds  or  thou- 
sands—  of  eyes,  united  into  one,  so  as  to  serve  the  purpose 
of  a  multiplying  glass  ;  each  eye  producing  a  separate  image 
of  the  object  observed.  Such  an  eye  had  the  trilobite.  Each 
contained  at  least  four  hundred  nearly  spherical  lenses  on  the 
surface  of  the  cornea,  united  into  one  organ  ;  revealing  to  us 
the  interesting  fact,  that  the  relations  of  light  to  animal  organ- 
ization were  the  same  in  that  remote  era  as  they  now  are. 

But  I  need  not  multiply  proof  of  the  functional  identity  of 
organic  nature  in  all  ages.  It  may,  however,  be  inquired, 
how  this  identity,  as  well  as  that  of  anatomical  structure,  is 
reconciled  with  the  great  anomalies,  both  in  size  and  form, 
which  have  confessedly  prevailed  among  ancient  animals. 
Compare  the  plants  and  animals  which  now  occupy  the  north- 
ern parts  of  the  globe  with  those  which  flourished  there  in 
the  remote  periods  of  geological  history,  and  can  we  believe 
them  to  be  portions  of  one  great  system  of  organic  nature  ? 

Compare,  for  instance,  the  thirty  or  forty  species  of  ferns 
now  growing  to  the  height  of  a  few  inches,  or  one  or  two  feet, 
in  Europe  and  this  country,  with  the  more  than  two  hundred 
species  already  dug  out  of  the  coal  mines,  many  of  which 
were  forty  to  forty-five  feet    in    height ;    or   the  diminutive 


276 


UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 


ground  pines,  and  equiseta,  now  scarcely  noticed  in  our  for- 
ests, with  the  gigantic  lepidodendron,  sigillaria,  calamites,and 
equiseta,  of  the  carboniferous  period  ;  and  who  will  not  be 
struck  with  the  great  difference  between  them  ? 

Or  go  to  Germany,  and  imagine  the  bones  of  the  dinothe- 
rium  to  start  out  of  the  soil,  and  become  clothed  with  flesh 
and  instinct  with  life.  You  have  before  you  a  quadruped 
eighteen  feet  in  length,  and  of  proportional  height,  much 
larger  than  the  elephant,  and  with  curved  tusks  reaching  two 
or  three  feet  below  its  lower  jaw,  while  no  other  living  animal 
would  be  found  there  larger  than  the  ox,  or  the  horse  —  mere 
pygmies  by  the  side  of  such  a  monster,  and  evidently  unfit  to 
be  his  contemporaries. 

Again.  Let  the  megatherium  be  brought  back  to  life  on  the 
pampas  of  South  America,  and  you  have  an  animal  twelve  feet 
long  and  eight  feet  high,  with  proportions  perfectly  colossal. 
Its  fore  feet  were  a  yard  long,  its  thigh  bone  three  times  thicker 
than  that  of  the  elephant,  its  width  across  the  haunches  five 
feet,  its  spinal  marrow  a  foot  in  diameter,  and  its  tail,  where 
it  was  inserted  into  the  body,  two  feet  in  diameter.  What  a 
giant  in  comparison  with  the  sloth,  the  anteater,  and  the 
armadillo,  to  which  it  was  allied  by  anatomical  structure  ! 

Still  more  unequal  in  size,  as  compared  with  living  batra- 
cliians,  was  the  labyrinthidon,  once  common  in  England  and 
Germany,  if,  indeed,  the  tracks  on  sandstone  were  made  by 
ihat  animal.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  frog  as  large  as  an  ox,  and 
perhaps  as  large  as  an  elephant.  Think  of  such  animals 
swarming  in  our  morasses  at  the  present  day  ! 

But  coming  back  from  Europe,  and  turning  our  thoughts  to 
the  animals  that  trod  along  the  shores  of  the  estuary  that  once 
washed  the  base  of  Mount  Holyoke,  in  New  England,  we  shall 
encounter  an  animal,  probably  of  the  batrachian  family,  of  more 


GIGANTIC    ANIMALS.  277 

gigantic  proportions.  It  was  the  Otozoum  Moodily  a  biped, 
with  feet  twenty  inches  long,  more  than  twice  the  size  of  those 
of  the  labyrinthidon  ;  yet  its  tracks  on  the  imperishable  sand- 
stone show  that  such  a  giant  once  trod  upon  the  muddy  shore 
of  that  ancient  estuary. 

Along  that  same  shore,  also,  enormous  struthious  birds 
moved  in  flocks,  making  strides  from  three  to  five  feet  long, 
with  feet  eighteen  inches  long,  lifting  their  heads,  it  may  be, 
from  twelve  to  eighteen  feet  above  the  ground,  surpassing,  as 
it  appears,  even  the  gigantic  dinornis  of  New  Zealand,  now 
that  the  feet  of  the  latter  have  been  discovered.  I  refer  to 
the  Brontozoum  giganteum,  whose  tracks  are  so  common  on 
the  new  red  sandstone  of  the  Connecticut  valley.  What 
dwarfs  are  we  in  comparison,  who  now  consider  ourselves 
lords  of  that  valley  ! 

Still  more  remarkable  for  peculiarities  of  structure  was  the 
tribe  of  saurians,  which  were  once  so  numerous  in  the  north- 
ern parts  of  Europe  and  America.  The  ichthyosaurus,  a 
carnivorous  marine  reptile,  sometimes  thirty  feet  long,  had 
the  snout  of  a  porpoise,  the  teeth  of  a  crocodile,  the  head  of  a 
lizard,  the  vertebra  of  a  fish,  the  sternum  of  an  ornitho- 
rhynchus,  and  the  paddles  of  a  whale.  Those  paddles,  cor- 
responding to  the  fins  of  a  fish,  or  the  web  feet  of  water  birds, 
were  composed,  each  of  them,  of  more  than  one  hundred 
bones.  In  short,  we  find  in  this  animal  a  combination  of 
mechanical  contrivances,  which  are  now  found  among  three 
distinct  classes  of  the  animal  kingdom.  Its  eye,  also,  having 
an  orbital  cavity,  in  one  species,  of  fourteen  inches  in  its 
longest  diameter,  was  proportionally  larger  than  that  of  any 
living  animal. 

The  plesiosaurus  had  the  general  structure  of  the  ichthyo- 
24 


278  UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

saurus ;  but  its  neck  was  nearly  as  long  as  its  whole  body  — 
longer,  in  proportion  to  its  size,  than  even  that  of  the  swan. 

The  iguanodon  was  an  herbivorous  terrestrial  reptile  that 
formerly  inhabited  England.  It  approaches  nearest  in  struc- 
ture to  the  iguana,  a  reptile  four  or  five  feet  long,  inhabiting 
the  marine  parts  of  this  continent.  Yet  the  iguanodon  was 
thirty  feet  long,  with  a  thigh  six  feet,  and  a  body  fourteen  feet 
in  circumference.  What  an  alarm  would  it  now  produce,  to 
have  such  a  monster  start  into  life  in  the  forests  of  England, 
where  no  analogous  animal  could  be  found  more  than  half  a 
foot  in  length  !  Surely  this  must  have  been  one  of  the  fabu- 
lous monsters  of  antiquity. 

Still  more  heteroclitic  and  unlike  existing  nature  was  the 
pterodactyle,  a  small  lizard,  contemporary  with  the  ichthyo- 
saurus and  plesiosaurus.  At  one  time  anatomists  regarded  it 
as  a  bird,  at  another  as  a  bat,  and  finally  as  a  reptile,  hav- 
ing the  head  and  neck  of  a  bird,  the  body  and  tail  of  a  quad- 
ruped, the  wings  of  a  bat,  and  the  teeth  of  a  saurian  reptile. 
With  its  wings  it  could  fly  or  swim  ;  it  could  walk  on  two 
feet  or  four  ;  with  its  claws  it  could  climb  or  creep.  "  Thus," 
says  Dr.  Buckland,  "like  Milton's  fiend,  all  qualified  for  all 
services,  and  all  elements,  the  pterodactyle  was  a  fit  compan- 
ion for  the  kindred  reptiles  that  swarmed  in  the  seas,  or 
crawled  on  the  shores  of  a  turbulent  planet." 

«  The  fiend, 
O'er  bog,  or  steep,  through  straight,  rough,  dense,  or  rare, 
With  head,  hands,  wings,  or  feet  pursues  his  way. 
And  swims,  or  sinks,  or  wades,  or  creeps,  or  flies." 

Now,  when  the  details  of  such  facts  are  brought  before  us, 
it  is  very  natural  to  feel  that  it  is  the  history  of  monsters,  and 


NOT    BIONSTERS.  279 

that  the  Centaurs,  the  Gorgons,  and  Chimeras  of  the  ancients, 
are  no  more  unhke  existing  animals  than  these  resurrections 
from  the  rocks.  But  further  examination  rectifies  our  mis- 
take, and  we  recognize  them  as  parts  of  one  great  system. 
All  the  peculiarities  of  size,  and  structure,  and  form,  which 
we  meet,  we  find  to  be  only  wise  and  benevolent  adaptations 
to  the  different  circumstances  in  which  animals  have  been 
placed.  The  gigantic  size  of  many  of  them,  compared  with 
existing  races,  may  be  explained  by  the  tropical,  or  even  ultra 
tropical  character  of  the  climate  ;  and  not  a  single  anomaly 
of  structure  and  form  can  be  pointed  out,  which  did  not  con- 
tribute to  the  convenience  and  happiness  of  the  species,  in  the 
circumstances  in  which  they  were  placed.  It  is  our  ignorance 
and  narrow  views  alone  that  give  any  of  them  the  aspect  of 
monsters.  Listen  to  the  opinion  of  Sir  Charles  Bell,  one  of 
the  ablest  of  modern  anatomists.  "  The  animals  of  the  ante- 
diluvian world,"  says  he,  "  were  not  monsters  ;  there  is  no 
lusus,  or  extravagance.  Hideous  as  they  appear  to  us,  and 
like  the  phantoms  of  a  dream,  they  were  adapted  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  earth  when  they  existed."  "  Judging  by  these 
indications  of  the  habits  of  the  animals,  we  acquire  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  condition  of  the  earth  during  their  period  of  ex- 
istence ;  that  it  was  suited  at  one  time  to  the  scaly  tribe  of 
the  lacertoe,  with  languid  motion  ;  at  another,  to  animals  of 
higher  organization,  with  more  varied  and  lively  habits  ;  and, 
finally,  we  learn  that,  at  any  period  previous  to  man's  crea- 
tion, the  surface  of  the  earth  would  have  been  unsuitable  to 
him."  —  Bridgeicater  Treatise,  pp.  35  and  31. 

A  similar  view  is  given  of  this  subject  by  England's  geo- 
logical poet,  (Rev.  Mr.  Wilks,)  in  whose  playful  verses  w^e 
find  more  of  true  science  and  just  inference   than  in  many 


280  UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

a  ponderous  tome  of  grave  prose.     In  one  of  his  poems  he 

says,  — 

"  Seamy  coal, 
Limestone,  or  oolite,  and  other  sections, 
Give  us  strange  tidings  of  our  old  connections  ; 
Our  arborescent  ferns,  of  climate  torrid, 
"With  unknown  shapes  of  names  and  natures  horrid ; 
Strange  ichthyosaurus,  or  iguanodon, 
With  many  more  I  cannot  verse  upon,  — 
Lost  species  and  lost  genera  ;  some  whose  bias 
Is  chalk,  marl,  sandstone,  gravel,  or  blue  lias ; 
Birds,  beasts,  fish,  insects,  reptiles  ;  fresh,  marine, 
Perfect  as  yesterday  among  us  seen 
In  rock  or  cave  ;  'tis  passing  strange  to  me 
How  such  incongruous  mixture  e'er  could  be. 
And  yet  no  medley  was  it :  each  its  station 
Once  occupied  in  wise  and  meet  location. 
God  is  a  God  of  order,  though  to -scan 
His  works  may  pose  the  feeble  powers  of  man." 

The  facts  and  reasonuigs  which  have  now  been  presented 
will  sustain  the  following  important  inferences  :  — 

In  the  first  place,  we  learn  that  the  notions  which  have  so 
widely  prevailed^  in  ancient  and  modern  times,  respecting  a 
chaos,  are  without  foundation. 

Among  all  heathen  nations  of  antiquity,  the  belief  in  a 
primeval  chaos  was  almost  universal ;  and  from  the  heathen 
philosophers  it  was  transmitted  to  the  Christian  world,  and 
incorporated  with  the  Mosaic  cosmogony.  It  is  not,  indeed, 
easy  to  ascertain  what  is  the  precise  idea  which  has  been  at- 
tached to  a  chaos.  It  is  generally  described,  however,  as  "  a 
confused  assemblage  of  elements,"  "  an  unformed  and  undi- 
gested mass  of  heterogeneous  matter  ;  "  not,  of  course,  subject 
to  those  laws  which  now  govern  it,  and  which  have  arranged 


THE    CHAOS    OF    GEOLOGY.  281 

it  all  in  beautiful  order,  even  if  we  leave  out  of  the  account 
vegetable  and  animal  organization.  Now,  I  have  attempted 
to  show  that  there  never  was  a  period  on  the  globe  when  these 
laws,  with  the  exception  of  the  organic,  did  not  operate  as 
they  now  do.  Nay,  the  geologist,  when  he  examines  the  old- 
est rocks,  finds  the  results  of  these  laws  at  the  supposed  period 
when  chaos  reigned  ;  that  is,  in  the  earliest  times  of  our  planet. 
And  what  are  these  results.?  The  most  splendid  crystalliza- 
tions which  nature  furnishes.  The  emerald,  the  topaz,  the 
sapphire,  and  other  kindred  gems,  were  elaborated  during  the 
supposed  chaotic  state  of  the  globe  ;  for  no  earlier  products 
have  yet  been  discovered  than  these  most  perfect  illustrations 
of  crystallographical,  chemical,  and  electrical  laws.  If,  in- 
deed, any  should  say,  that  by  a  chaos  they  mean  only  that 
state  of  the  world  when  no  animals  or  plants  existed,  —  in  other 
words,  when  no  organic  laws  had  been  established,  —  to  such 
a  chaos  I  have  no  objection.  And  this  is  the  chaos  described 
in  the  Bible,  where  it  is  said  that,  before  the  creation  of  ani- 
mals and  plants,  the  earth  was  without  form  and  void.  The 
tohu  van  bohu  of  Moses,  which  is  thus  translated  in  our  Eng- 
lish Bible,  means,  simply  and  literally,  invisible  and  unfur- 
nished —  invisible,  both  because  the  ocean  covered  the  present 
land,  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep  ;  and  un- 
furnished^  because  as  yet  no  organic  natures  had  been  called 
into  existence.  This  is  the  meaning  which  the  old  Jewish 
writers,  as  Philo  and  Josephus,  attached  to  these  words  ;  and 
they  have  been  followed  by  some  of  the  ablest  modern  com- 
raentators.  "It  is  wonderful,"  says  E-osenmuller  the  elder, 
"  that  so  many  interpreters  could  have  persuaded  themselves 
that  it  was  possible  to  detect  a  chaos  in  the  words  ^nzT  "(-;r. 
That  notion  unquestionably  derived  its  origin  from  the  fictions 
of  the  Greek  and  Latin  poets,  which  were  transferred  by 
24  * 


282  UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

those  interpreters  to  Moses.  If  we  follow  the  practice  of 
the  language,  the  Hebrew  phrase  has  this  signification  :  The 
earth  was  waste  and  desert^  or,  as  others  prefer,  empty  and 
vacuous ;  that  is,  uncultured  and  unfurnished  with  those  things 
with  which  the  Creator  afterwards  adorned  it."  —  Antiquiss. 
Tell  Hist.  p.  19-23. 

Upon  the  whole,  there  is  no  evidence  whatever,  either  in 
nature  or  revelation,  that  the  earth  has  ever  been  in  a  state 
corresponding  to  the  common  notions  of  a  chaos ;  while,  on 
the  other  hand,  there  is  strong  proof  that  the  present  laws  of 
nature  have  been  in  operation  from  the  beginning.  These 
laws  have  varied  in  the  intensity  of  their  action,  and  we 
have  strong  reason  to  believe  that  organic  laws  did  not  always 
exist;  but  none  of  these  laws  have  ever  been  suspended,  to 
leave  the  elements  to  mix  in  wild  disorder  in  a  formless  mass. 
It  is  high  time  that  religion  was  freed  from  the  indescribable 
incubus  of  a  chaos. 

Finally^  the  most  imimrtant  conclusion  to  which  the  mind  is 
conducted  by  this  subject  is,  that  the  present  and  past  condi- 
tions of  this  world  are  only  parts  of  one  and  the  same  great 
system  of  infinite  wisdom  and  benevolence. 

We  have  seen  that  the  same  wise  and  benevolent  laws, 
organic  and  inorganic,  have  always  controlled,  as  they  now 
control,  this  lower  world.  It  is  true  we  find  modified  condi- 
tions of  the  globe  in  its  past  history  ;  but  they  were  always 
the  foreseen  result  of  the  same  laws,  and  in  harmony  with 
the  same  great  plan.  And  the  modifications  of  organic  struc- 
ture, which  were  great  in  the  successive  economies,  were 
always  in  perfect  correspondence  with  the  earth's  physical 
changes.  Nowhere  do  we  meet  with  conflicting  plans  ;  but 
throughout  all  nature,  from  the  earliest  zoophyte  and  sea- 
weed of  the  Silurian  i*ocks  to  the  young  animals  and  plants  that 


ONE    GREAT    SYSTEM    ONLY.  283 

came  into  existence  to-day,  and  from  the  choice  gems  that 
were  produced  when  the  earth  was  without  form  and  void,  to 
the  crystals  which  are  now  forming  in  the  chemist's  labora- 
tory, one  golden  chain  of  harmony  links  all  together,  and 
identifies  all  as  the  work  of  the  same  infinite  mind. 

"  In  all  the  numerous  examples  of  design  which  we  have 
selected  from  the  various  animal  and  vegetable  remains  that 
occur  in  a  fossil  state,"  says  Dr.  Buckland,  "there  is  such  a 
never-failing  identity  in  the  fundamental  principles  of  their 
construction,  and  such  uniform  adoption  of  analogous  means 
to  produce  various  ends,  with  so  much  only  of  departure  from 
one  common  type  of  mechanism  as  was  requisite  to  adapt 
each  instrument  to  its  own  especial  function,  and  to  fit  each 
species  to  its  peculiar  place  and  office  in  the  scale  of  created 
beings,  that  we  can  scarcely  fail  to  acknowledge  in  all  these 
facts  a  demonstration  of  the  unity  of  the  intelligence  in 
which  such  transcendent  harmony  originated  ;  and  we  may 
almost  dare  to  assert  that  neither  atheism  nor  polytheism 
would  ever  have  found  acceptance  in  the  world,  had  the  evi- 
dences of  high  intelligence  and  unity  of  design  which  have 
been  disclosed  by  modern  discoveries  in  physical  science 
been  fully  known  to  the  authors  or  the  abetters  of  systems 
to  which  they  are  so  diametrically  opposed.  It  is  the  same 
handwriting  that  we  read,  the  same  system  and  contrivance 
that  we  trace,  the  same  unity  of  object  and  relation  to 
final  causes  which  we  see  maintained  throughout,  and  con- 
stantly proclaiming  the  unity  of  the  great  divine  original." 
—  BridgeiDttter  Treatise^  p.  584. 

"  The  earth,  from  her  deep  foundations,  unites  with  the 
celestial  orbs,  that  roll  throughout  boundless  space,  to  declare 
the  glory  and  show  forth  the  praise  of  their  common  Author 
and  Preserver;  and  the  voice  of  natural  religion  accords  bar- 


284  UNITY    OF    THE    DIVINE    PLAN. 

moniously  with  the  testimonies  of  revelation,  in  ascribing  the 
origin  of  the  universe  to  the  will  of  one  eternal  and  dominant 
intelligence,  the  almighty  Lord  and  supreme  First  Cause  of 
all  things  that  subsist ;  the  same  yesterday^  to-day^  and  for- 
ever, before  the  mountains  loere  brought  forth,  or  ever  the 
earth  and  the  ivorld  were  made,  God  from  everlasting  and 
without  end.''"'  —  Bridgewater  Treatise,  p.  596. 


(285) 


LECTURE     IX. 

THE   HYPOTHESIS   OF   CREATION  BY  LAW. 

In  all  ages  of  the  world,  where  men  have  been  enlightened 
enough  to  reason  upon  the  causes  of  phenomena,  a  mysteri- 
ous and  a  mighty  power  has  been  imputed  to  the  laws  of 
nature.  A  large  portion  of  the  most  enlightened  men  have 
felt  as  if  those  laws  not  only  explain,  but  possess  an  inherent 
potency  to  continue,  the  ordinary  operations  of  nature.  Most 
men  of  this  description,  however,  have  thought  that  to  origi- 
nate nature  must  have  demanded  the  special  exercise  of  an 
infinite  and  all-wise  Being.  But  a  few,  in  every  age,  have 
endeavored  to  exalt  law  into  a  Creator,  as  well  as  Controller, 
of  the  world.  The  hypothesis  has  assumed  a  great  variety 
of  forms,  and  until  recently  few  have  attempted  to  draw  it 
out  in  all  its  details,  and  apply  it  to  all  nature.  Among  the 
ancient  philosophers  it  was  based  on  the  eternity  of  matter, 
and  made  the  foundation  of  a  system  of  rank  atheism. 
Starting  with  the  position,  as  an  axiom,  that  nothing  produces 
nothing,  —  in  other  words,  that  creation  out  of  nothing  is 
impossible,  —  Democrhus  maintained  that  all  existence  was 
the  result  of  two  necessary  and  self-existent  principles,  viz., 
space,  infinite  in  extent,  and  atoms,  infinite  in  number.  The 
latter  have  been  eternally  in  motion,  in  directions  varying 
from  right  lines  ;  and  their  necessary  collisions  have  produced 
the  various  forms  of  organic  and  inorganic  nature.  To  pro- 
duce animals  and  plants,  it  was  only  necessary  that  the  atoms 


286  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

should  be  suitably  arranged.  The  only  animating  principle 
was  the  rapid  agitation  of  atoms. 

In  modern  times,  very  few  philosophers  have  ventured  to 
solve  the  whole  problem  of  the  universe  by  any  self-acting, 
self-producing  power  in  nature.  La  Place  limited  himself  to 
the  mode  in  which  the  great  bodies  of  the  universe  were 
produced  by  the  vortical  movements  of  nebulous  matter  ; 
although  his  object,  equally  with  that  of  Democritus  and 
Epicurus,  was  to  dispense  with  an  intelligent,  personal  Deity. 
Lamarck,  Geoffrey  St.  Hilaire,  and  Bory  St.  Vincent,  as- 
suming the  existence  of  matter  and  its  laws,  have  endeavored 
to  show,  by  the  inherent  vitalitj'-  of  some  parts  of  matter, 
how  the  first  or  lowest  classes  of  animals  and  plants  may 
have  been  produced  ;  and  how,  from  these,  by  the  theory  of 
development  and  the  force  of  circumstances,  all  the  higher 
families,  with  their  instincts  and  intellects,  may  have  been 
evolved.  A  still  more  recent,  but  anonymous,  writer  has  had 
the  boldness  to  unite  these  nebular  hypotheses,  with  those  of 
spontaneous  generation  and  transmutation,  into  a  single  sys- 
tem, and  to  attempt  to  clothe  it  with  the  garb  of  philosophy ; 
nay,  to  do  this  in  consistency,  not  only  with  Theism,  but 
with  a  belief  in  revelation.  This  theory  is  what  I  denominate 
the  hypothesis  of  creation  by  Imo.  And  judging  from  its 
wide  reception,  we  should  be  led  to  infer  that  it  had  strong 
probabilities  in  its  favor.  It  should,  therefore,  at  least  receive 
a  careful  and  candid  examination.  For  though  many  of  its 
statements  and  conclusions  are  absurd,  and  some  of  them  are 
highly  ridiculous,  the  hypothesis,  at  least  in  some  of  its  parts, 
falls  in  with  certain  loose  notions  that  have  got  possession  of 
the  public  mind,  and  which  nothing  but  cogent  reasoning  can 
eradicate. 

Before  entering   upon  such   an  examination,   however,   it 


THE  NEBULAR  HYPOTHESIS.  287 

seems  necessary  to  go  somewhat  more  into  detail  in  illustra- 
tion of  the  nature  of  this  hypothesis.  It  may  conveniently 
be  described  under  the  heads  of  cosmogony^  which  attempts 
to  account  for  the  origin  of  the  world  ;  zoogony,  which  ex- 
plains the  origin  of  animals  ;  and  zoonomy,  which  describes 
the  laws  of  animal  life.* 

The  cosmogony  of  this  theory  is  embraced  in  what  is  de- 
nominated the  nebular  hypothesis,  propounded  by  the  eminent 
mathematician  La  Place.  He  supposes  that,  originally,  the 
whole  solar  system  constituted  only  one  vast  mass  of  nebu- 
lous matter,  being  expanded  into  the  thinnest  vapor  and  gas 
by  heat,  and  more  than  filling  the  space  at  present  occupied 
by  the  planets.  This  vapor,  he  still  further  supposes,  had  a 
revolution  from  west  to  east  on  an  axis.  As  the  heat  dimin- 
ished by  radiation,  the  nebulous  matter  must  condense,  and 
consequently  the  velocity  of  rotation  must  increase,  and  an 
exterior  zone  of  vapor  might  be  detached ;  since  the  central 
attraction  might  not  be  able  to  overcome  the  increased  cen- 
trifugal force.  This  ring  of  vapor  might  sometimes  retain 
its  original  form,  as  in  the  case  of  Saturn's  ring ;  but  the 
tendency  would  be,  in  general,  to  divide  into  several  masses, 
which,  by  coalescing  again,  would  form  a  single  mass,  hav- 
ing a  revolution  about  the  sun,  and  on  its  'axis.  This  would 
constitute  a  planet  in  a  state  of  vapor ;  and  by  the  detach- 
ment of  successive  rings  might  all  the  planets  be  produced. 
As  they  went  on  contracting,  by  the  same  law,  satellites 
might  be  formed  to  each  ;  and  the  ultimate  result  would  be 
solid  planets  and  satellites,  revolving  around  the  sun  in 
nearly  the  same  plane,  and  in  the  same  direction,  and  also 
on  their  axes. 

*  I  adopt  this  division  from  an  able  American  review  of  the 
"Vestiges." 


288  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

Although  this  hypothesis  has  been  regarded  with  favor  by- 
many  philosophers,  who  were  Theists,  and  even  Christians, 
yet  the  object  of  La  Place  in  proposing  it  was  to  sustain 
atheism.  Sir  Isaac  Newton  had  expressed  the  conviction  that 
'*  the  admirable  arrangement  of  the  solar  system  cannot  but 
be  the  work  of  an  intelligent  and  most  powerful  Being." 
La  Place  declared  that,  in  this  statement,  Newton  "  had  devi- 
ated from  the  method  of  true  philosophy,"  and  brought  for- 
ward these  views  to  sustain  his  declaration.  Whether  they 
do  sustain  it,  will  be  considered  in  another  place.  But  since 
it  is  one  of  those  modes  in  which  men  have  attempted  to 
account  for  the  universe  without  a  Deity,  it  is  a  proper  sub- 
ject of  examination  in  this  lecture,  in  which  we  are  inquiring 
whether  law  alone  will  account  for  the  creation  and  sustenta- 
tion  of  the  universe. 

The  zoogony  of  this  hypothesis  undertakes  to  show  how 
animals  and  plants  may  be  produced  without  any  special  ex- 
ercise of  creating  power  on  the  part  of  the  Deity.  It  sup- 
poses matter  to  be  endowed  with  certain  laws,  whose  operation 
alone  will  determine  life  in  brute  matter,  or,  rather,  whose 
operation  constitutes  life.  Some  would  have  it  that  a  part  of 
matter  is  essentially  vital ;  that  is,  endowed  with  inherent 
life  ;  and  that  this  matter,  like  leaven,  communicates  life  to 
dead  matter  arranged  in  a  certain  order.  But  the  more  mod- 
ern view  is,  that  life  is  produced  by  electrical  agency.  It  is 
found  that  the  fundamental  form  of  organic  beings  is  a  glob- 
ule, having  another  globule  forming  within  it.  It  is  also 
found  that  globules  may  be  produced  in  albumen  by  elec- 
tricity; and  if  we  could  discover  how  nature  produces  albu- 
men, it  is  thought  that  the  whole  process  by  which  living  organ- 
isms are  produced  would  be  distinctly  before  us.  It  seems 
to  be  simply  the  operation  of  electricity,  and  requires  no 


HYPOTHESIS    OF    LAMARCK.  289 

intervention  of  special  creating  energy.  If  the  question 
arises,  Whence  came  such  marvellous  laws  to  exist  in  nature  ? 
the  atheist  replies  that  matter  and  its  laws  are  eternal,  having 
neither  beginning  nor  end  ;  while  the  Theist,  who  maintains 
this  hypothesis,  asserts  that,  when  God  created  matter,  he 
endowed  it  with  such  laws,  having  an  inherent,  self-executing 
power. 

Having  thus  ascertained,  as  it  supposes,  how  life  and  or- 
ganization in  the  simplest  forms  may  be  produced,  the  next 
inquiry  is,  how  the  more  perfect  and  complicated  forms  of 
organic  beings  may  be  developed  by  laws,  without  divine 
power.  This  constitutes  the  zoonomy  of  the  subject.  The 
French  zoologist,  Lamarck,  first  drew  out  and  formally  de- 
fended this  hypothesis,  aided  by  others,  as  GeofFroy  St.  Hilaire 
and  Bory  St.  Vincent.  Their  supposition  was,  that  there  is  a 
power  in  nature,  which  they  sometimes  denominated  the 
Deity,  yet  did  not  allow  it  to  be  intelligent  and  independ- 
ent, but  a  mere  blind,  instrumental  force.  This  power,  they 
supposed,  was  able  to  produce  what  they  called  monads^  or 
rough  draughts  of  animals  and  plants.  These  monads  were 
the  simplest  of  all  organic  beings,  mere  aggregations  of 
matter,  some  of  them  supposed  to  be  inherently  vital.  And 
such  monads  are  the  only  things  ever  produced  directly  by 
this  blind  deity.  But  in  these  monads  there  was  supposed  to 
reside  an  inherent  tendency  to  progressive  improvement. 
The  wants  of  this  living  mass  of  jelly  were  supposed  to  pro- 
duce such  effects  as  would  gradually  form  new  organs,  as 
the  hands,  the  feet,  and  the  mouth.  These  changes  would 
be  aided  by  another  principle,  which  they  called  the  force  of 
external  circumstances^  by  which  they  meant  the  influence 
upon  its  development  of  its  peculiar  condition  ;  as,  for  in- 
stance, a  conatus  for  flying,  produced  by  the  internal  principle, 
25 


290  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

would  form  wings  in  birds ;  a  conatus  for  swimming  in  water 
would  form  the  fins  and  tails  of  fishes ;  and  a  conatus  for 
walking  would  form  the  feet  and  legs  of  quadrupeds.  Thus 
the  organs  were  not  formed  to  meet  the  wants,  but  by  the 
wants,  of  the  animal  and  plant.  Of  course,  new  wants 
would  produce  new  organs  ;  and  thus  have  animals  been  grow- 
ing more  and  more  complicated  and  perfect  from  the  earliest 
periods  of  geological  history.  Man  began  his  course  as  a  mo- 
nad, but,  by  the  force  of  Lamarck's  two  principles,  has  reached 
the  most  elevated  rank  on  the  scale  of  animals.  His  last  condi- 
tion before  his  present  was  that  of  the  monkey  tribe,  especial- 
ly that  of  the  orang-outang.  The  advocates  of  this  hypothesis 
generally,  however,  suppose  that  there  are  from  three  to  fif- 
teen species  of  men,  and  that  the  different  races  are  not  mere 
varieties  of  one  species.  The  most  perfect  species,  the  Cau- 
casian, after  leaving  the  monkey  state,  has  gradually  risen 
through  the  inferior  species,  and  is  still  making  progress ;  so 
that  we  cannot  tell  where  they  will  stop.  In  general,  the 
advocates  of  this  hypothesis  are  materialists  ;  that  is,  they  do 
not  suppose  that  there  is  a  soul  in  man,  distinct  from  the 
body,  but  that  thought  is  one  of  the  functions  of  the  brain. 
They  usually  also  regard  moral  qualities  as  mainly  dependent 
upon  organization,  agreeably  to  the  opinions  of  ultra  phrenol- 
ogists ;  and  hence  that  they  are  more  to  be  pitied  than 
blamed  for  their  deviations  from  rectitude. 

Such  is  the  hypothesis.  Let  us  now,  in  the  first  place, 
assume  it  to  be  proved,  and  see  what  inferences  follow. 

/  remark^  firsts  that  the  occurrence  of  events  according  to 
law  does  not  remove  the  necessity  of  a  divine  contriving, 
superintending,  and  sustaining  Power. 

That  every  event  in  the  universe  takes  place  according  to 
fixed  laws  I  am  ready  to  admit.     For  what  is  a  natural  law  ? 


ALL    THINGS    CONTROLLED    BY    LAW.  291 

Nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  uniform  mode  in  which  divine 
power  acts.  In  the  case  of  miracles,  it  may  be  that  the  ordi- 
nary laws  of  nature  are  suspended  or  counteracted  ;  at  least, 
they  are  increased  or  diminished  in  their  power.  Yet  from 
what  we  know  of  the  divine  perfections,  we  must  conclude 
that  God  has  certain  fixed  rules  by  which  he  is  regulated  in 
the  performance  of  miracles ;  and,  of  course,  in  the  same 
circumstances  we  should  expect  the  same  miracles.  So  that 
we  may  reasonably  admit  that  even  miracles  are  regulated 
and  controlled  by  law,  like  common  events  ;  though,  from  the 
infrequency  of  the  former,  men  cannot  understand  the  laws 
that  regulate  them. 

Now,  if  the  advocates  of  this  hypothesis  mean  simply  that 
every  event  is  regulated  by  law,  —  in  other  words,  that  with 
like  antecedents  like  consequents  will  be  connected,  —  I  have 
no  controversy  with  them  ;  and  such  is  the  precise  statement 
of  a  modern  anonymous  popular  writer  on  the  subject. 

He  declares  that  his  "  purpose  is,  to  show  that  the  whole 
revelation  of  the  works  of  God  presented  to  our  senses  and 
reason  is  a  system  based  on  what  we  are  compelled,  for  want 
of  a  better  term,  to  call  law  ;  by  which,  however,  is  not 
meant  a  system  independent  or  exclusive  of  the  Deity,  but 
one  which  only  proposes  a  certain  mode  of  his  working^  — 
Sequel  to  the  Vestiges  of  Nat.  Hist,  of  Creation^  p.  2.  —  But 
this  is  by  no  means  all  that  is  meant  by  this  hypothesis.  Nay, 
the  grand  object  of  the  writer  above  quoted  is,  to  show  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  miraculous  interference  in  the  crea- 
tion or  preservation  of  the  universe.  He  admits  only  the 
ordinary  laws  of  nature,  but  denies  all  special  and  extraordi- 
nary laws ;  and  says  that  it  does  not  "  appear  necessary  that 
God  should  exercise  an   immediately  superintending  power 


292  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

over  the  mundane  economy."  —  Vestiges^  p.  273.  —  Nay,  he 
denies  that  the  original  creation  of  the  imiverse  and  of  animals 
and  plants  required  any  thing  but  the  operation  of  natural 
laws ;  of  such  laws  as  we  see  and  understand.  The  thought 
does  not  seem  to  have  occurred  to  him,  that  special  and  mi- 
raculous acts  of  the  Deity  may  be  as  truly  governed  by  law 
as  the  motions  of  planets.  Every  thing  of  that  sort  he  seems 
to  regard  as  a  violation  of  law,  —  a  stepping  aside  from  fixed 
principles,  —  a  sort  of  afterthought  with  Jehovah,  —  a  remedy 
for  some  defect  in  his  original  plans.  True,  the  law  of  mira- 
cles and  of  special  providence  is  very  different  from  the  com- 
mon course  of  nature  ;  and,  therefore,  the  one  may  for  a  time 
supersede  the  others.  But  this  does  not  prove  that  the  former 
is  not  regulated  by  laws  ;  nor  that  it  did  not  enter  into  the 
original  plan  of  the  universe  in  the  divine  mind.  It  must  have 
been  a  part  of  that  plan  ;  every  thing  was  a  part  of  it,  and 
there  can  be  with  him  no  afterthought,  no  improvement,  no 
alteration  of  his  eternal  designs. 

Admitting  that  every  event,  miraculous  as  well  as  common, 
is  under  law,  it  by  no  means  renders  a  present  directing  and 
energizing  Deity  unnecessary.  This  hypothesis  admits  that 
organic  life  had  a  beginning,  for  its  grand  object  is  to  show 
how  it  began  by  law  alone.  Now,  who  gave  to  matter,  in  a 
gaseous  state,  such  wonderful  laws  that  this  fair  world  should 
be  the  result  of  their  operation  ?  If  it  would  require  infinite 
wisdom  as  well  as  power  to  create  the  present  universe  at 
once  out  of  nothing,  would  it  demand  less  of  contrivance  and 
skill  to  impart  such  powers  to  brute  matter?  It  was  not 
merely  a  power  to  produce  organic  natures,  to  form  their 
complicated  organs,  to  give  life,  and  instinct,  and  intellect ; 
but  to  adapt  each  particle,  each  organ,  each  animal,  and  each 


WHAT    IS    A    NATURAL    LAW  ?  293 

plant,  most  exactly  and  most  wonderfully  to  its  place  in  the 
vast  system,  so  that  every  single  thing  should  most  beautifully 
harmonize  with  every  other  thing. 

Again.  What  is  a  natural  law  without  the  presence  and 
energizing  power  of  the  lawgiver  ?  How  easily  are  men 
bewildered  by  words  !  and  none  has  led  more  astray  than  this 
word  laiu.  We  talk  about  its  power  to  produce  certain  ef- 
fects ;  but  who  can  point  out  any  inherent  power  of  this  sort 
which  it  possesses  ?  Who  can  show  how  a  law  operates  but 
through  the  energizing  influence  of  the  lawgiver  ?  How  un- 
philosophical  then  to  separate  a  law  of  nature  from  the  Deity, 
and  to  imagine  him  to  have  withdrawn  from  his  works !  For 
to  do  this  would  be  to  annihilate  the  law.  He  must  be  present 
every  moment,  and  direct  every  movement  of  the  universe,  just 
as  really  as  the  mind  of  man  must  be  in  the  body  to  produce 
its  movements.  Take  away  God  from  the  universe,  or  let 
him  cease  to  act  mentally  upon  it,  and  every  movement  would 
as  instantly  and  certainly  cease,  as  would  every  movement  of 
the  human  frame,  were  the  mind  to  be  withdrawn,  or  cease  to 
will.  We  realize  the  necessity  of  the  divine  presence  and 
energy  to  produce  a  miracle.  But  if  miracles  are  performed 
according  to  law,  as  much  as  common  events,  —  and  we 
surely  cannot  prove  they  are  not,  —  why  is  a  present  Deity 
any  more  necessary  in  the  one  case  than  in  the  other  }  The 
Bible  considers  common  and  miraculous  events  exactly  alike 
in  this  respect.     And  true  philosophy  teaches  the  same. 

I  see  not,  then,  why  this  law  hypothesis  does  not  require  an 
infinite  Deity,  just  as  much  as  the  ordinary  belief,  which  sup-- 
poses  that  God  originally  created  the  universe  by  his  fiat,  and 
sustains  it  constantly  by  his  power,  and  from  time  to  time 
interferes  with  the  regular  sequence  of  cause  and  effect  by 
miracles.  The  only  difference  seems  to  be  this  :  While  the 
25* 


294  CREATION    BY   LAW. 

common  view  represents  God  as  alwaj'-s  watching  over  his 
works,  and  ready,  whenever  necessary,  to  make  special  inter- 
positions, the  law  hypothesis  introduces  him  only  at  the  very 
dawn  of  the  universe,  exerting  his  infinite  wisdom  and  power 
to  devise  and  endow  matter  with  exquisite  laws,  capable,  by 
their  inherent  self-executing  power,  of  originating  all  organic 
natures,  and  producing  the  infinite  variety  of  nature,  and  keep- 
ing in  play  her  countless  and  unceasing  agencies.  It  was 
only  necessary  that  he  should  impress  attenuated  matter  with 
these  laws,  and  then  put  the  machine  in  motion,  and  it  would 
go  on  forever,  without  any  need  of  God's  presence  or  agency  ; 
so  that  he  might  henceforward  give  himself  up  to  undisturbed 
repose. 

I  know,  indeed,  that  La  Place,  and  some  other  advocates 
of  this  latter  hypothesis,  do  not  admit  any  necessity  for  a 
Deity  even  to  originate  matter  or  its  laws  ;  and  to  prove  this 
was  the  object  of  the  nebular  hypothesis.  But  how  evident 
that  in  this  he  signally  failed  !  For  even  though  he  could 
show  how  nebulous  matter,  placed  in  a  certain  position,  and 
having  a  revolution,  might  be  separated  into  sun  and  planets, 
by  merely  mechanical  laws,  yet  where,  save  in  an  infinite 
Deity,  lie  the  power  and  the  wisdom  to  originate  that  matter, 
and  to  bring  it  into  such  a  condition,  that,  by  blind  laws  alone, 
it  would  produce  such  a  universe  —  so  harmonious,  so  varied, 
so  nicely  adjusted  in  its  parts  and  relations  as  the  one  we  in- 
habit ?  Especially,  how  does  this  hypothesis  show  in  what 
manner  these  worlds  could  be  peopled  by  countless  myriads 
of  organic  natures,  most  exquisitely  contrived,  and  fitted  to 
their  condition  ?  The  atheist  may  say  that  matter  is  eternal. 
But  if  so,  what  but  an  infinite  mind  could  in  time  begin  the 
work  of  organic  creation  ?  If  the  matter  existed  for  eternal 
ages   without   being   brought   into   order,   and    into  organic 


LAW    EXALTED    INTO    THE    DEITY.  295 

Structures,  why  did  it  not  continue  in  the  same  state  forever  ? 
Does  the  atheist  say,  All  is  the  result  of  laws  inherent  in  mat- 
ter ?  But  how  could  those  laws  remain  dormant  through  all 
past  eternity,  —  that  is,  through  a  period  literally  infinite, — 
and  then  at  length  be  aroused  into  intense  action  ?  Besides, 
to  impute  the  present  wise  arrangements  and  organic  crea- 
tions of  the  world  to  law,  is  to  endow  that  law  with  all  the 
attributes  with  which  the  Theist  invests  the  Deity.  Nothing 
short  of  intelligence,  and  wisdom,  and  benevolence,  and  power, 
infinitely  above  what  man  possesses,  will  account  for  the  pres- 
ent world.  If  there  is,  then,  a  power  inherent  in  matter  ade- 
quate to  the  production  of  such  effects,  that  power  must  be 
the  same  as  the  Deity ;  and,  therefore,  it  is  truly  the  Deity, 
by  whatever  name  we  call  it.  In  short,  the  fact  that  La  Place 
did  not  see  that  his  hypothesis  utterly  failed  to  account  for 
the  universe  without  a  Deity,  strikingly  shows  us,  that  a  man 
may  be  a  giant  in  mathematics,  while  he  is  only  a  pygmy  in 
moral  reasoning  ;  or,  to  make  the  statement  more  general, 
how  a  man,  by  an  exclusive  cultivation  of  one  faculty  of  the 
soul,  may  shrivel  all  the  rest  into  a  nutshell. 

From  these  views  and  reasonings,  it  is  clear,  I  think,  that 
the  hypothesis  of  creation  by  law  does  not  necessarily  destroy 
the  theory  of  religion.  For  if  we  admit  that  every  thing  in 
the  world  of  matter  and  of  mind,  not  excepting  miracles  and 
special  providences,  is  regulated,  if  not  produced,  by  law,  it 
does  not  take  away  the  necessity  of  a  contriving,  sustaining, 
and  energizing  Deity.  Even  though  we  admit  that  God  has 
communicated  to  nature's  laws,  at  the  beginning,  a  power  to 
execute  themselves,  (though  the  supposition  is  quite  unphilo- 
sophical,)  no  event  is  any  the  less  God's  work,  than  if  all  were 
miraculous. 

In  consistency  with  this  conclusion,  we  find  that  while  some 


296  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

advocates  of  this  hypothesis  evidently  intended  it  to  sustain 
atheism,  its  most  plausible  advocate,  as  we  have  seen,  fully 
admits,  not  only  the  divine  existence,  but  the  reality  of  reve- 
lation. It  may,  indeed,  be  doubted  whether  this  anonymous 
writer  has  not  virtually  taken  away  the  Deity,  and  even  moral 
accountability,  by  his  materialism  and  his  ultra-phrenology  ; 
yet  we  do  not  see  but  he  may  assert  his  law  system  without 
denying  God's  existence  or  attributes. 

It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  the  influence  of  this 
hypothesis  upon  practical  religion  is  disastrous.  It  does,  ap- 
parently, so  remove  the  Deity  from  all  concern  in  the  affairs 
of  the  world,  and  so  foists  law  into  his  place,  that  practically 
there  is  no  God.  If  his  agency  is  acknowledged,  as  having 
put  the  vast  machine  in  motion,  in  some  indefinitely  remote 
period  of  past  duration,  yet  the  feeling  is,  that  since  then  he 
has  given  up  the  reins  into  the  hands  of  law,  so  that  man  has 
nothing  to  do  with  him,  but  only  with  nature's  laws  ;  that  he 
has  only  to  submit  to  these,  and  not  expect  any  interposition 
for  his  relief,  however  earnestly  he  cry  for  it.  Now,  it  is 
obviously  the  intention  and  desire  of  the  advocates  of  this 
hypothesis  thus  to  remove  God  away  from  his  works,  and 
from  their  thoughts ;  else  why  should  they  so  strenuously  re- 
sist the  notion  of  miracles  ?  For  these  may  just  as  properly 
be  referred  to  law  as  common  events.  Yet  it  is  one  of  the 
most  striking  features  of  the  hypothesis,  that  it  opposes  strongly 
the  idea  of  any  special  oversight  and  interposition  on  the  part 
of  the  Deitv.  True,  when  we  look  at  the  subject  philosophi- 
cally, we  must  acknowledge  that  an  event  is  just  as  really  the 
work  of  God,  when  brought  about  by  laws  which  he  ordains 
and  energizes,  as  by  miraculous  interposition.  Still  the 
practical  influence  of  these  two  views  of  Providence  is  quite 
different. 


oken's  views.  297 

Whoever  the  author  of  the  Vestiges  may  be,  he  has  evi- 
dently lived  in  a  religious  community,  and  felt  the  influence 
of  a  religious  atmosphere  ;  for  he  tries  to  conform  his  system 
as  much  as  possible  to  the  principles  of  Protestant  Christianity. 
In  other  words,  he  feels  so  much  the  power  of  practical 
piety  around  him,  that  he  does  not  suffer  the  influence  of 
the  system  which  he  advocates  to  exhibit  itself  fully,  nor 
to  drive  him  into  those  extravagances  of  belief  which  natu- 
rally result  from  it.  Tn  order  to  see  what  is  its  natural  ten- 
dency, we  need  to  go  to  such  a  country  as  Germany,  or  Swit- 
zerland, where  there  is  little  to  restrain  the  wildest  vagaries  of 
belief.  In  the  works  of  Professor  Lorenz  Oken,  of  Zurich, 
we  see  fully  developed  the  tendencies  and  results  of  this  hy- 
pothesis of  development  by  law,  combined  with  the  unintelli- 
gible idealism  of  Kant,  Fichte,  Schelling,  &c.  In  his  Physio- 
philosophy,  translated  by  the  Ray  Society  for  the  edification 
of  sober,  matter-of-fact  Anglo-Saxons,  we  find  a  man,  of  strong 
mind  and  extensive  knowledge,  taking  the  most  ridiculous 
positions  with  the  stoutest  dogmatism,  and  the  most  imper- 
turbable gravity,  yet  whose  blasphemy  is  equalled  only  by 
their  absurdity.  Let  a  few  quotations  illustrate  and  confirm 
this  statement. 

"  The  highest  mathematical  idea,  or  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  all  mathematics,  is  the  zero  =  0. 

"  Zero  is  in  itself  nothing.  Mathematics  is  based  upon 
nothing,  and  consequently  arises  out  of  nothing. 

"  Real  and  ideal  are  no  more  different  from  each  other 
than  ice  and  water :  both  of  these,  as  is  well  known,  are  es- 
sentially one  and  the  same,  and  yet  are  different,  the  diversity 
consisting  in  the  form.  Every  real  is  absolutely  nothing  else 
than  a  number. 

"  The  Eternal  is  the  nothino;  of  nature. 


CREATION    BY    LAW. 

"  There  is  no  other  science  than  that  which  treats  of  nothing. 

"There  exists  nothing  but  nothing  —  nothing  but  the 
Eternal. 

"  Every  thing  in  the  world  is  endowed  with  life  ;  the  world 
itself  is  alive,  and  continues  only,  maintains  itself  by  virtue  of 
its  life. 

"  Man  is  God  wholly  manifested.  God  has  become  man, 
zero  has  become  -\ .  Man  is  the  whole  of  arithmetic,  com- 
pacted, however,  out  of  all  numbers  ;  he  can,  therefore,  pro- 
duce numbers  out  of  himself. 

"  Animals  are  men  who  never  imagine.  They  are  beings 
who  never  attain  to  consciousness  concerning  themselves. 
They  are  single  accounts ;  man  is  the  whole  of  mathematics. 

"  Arithmetic  is  the  truly  absolute  or  divine  science.  The- 
ology is  arithmetic  personified. 

"For  God  to  become  real,  he  must  appear  under  the  form 
of  the  sphere.  There  is  no  other  form  for  God.  God  mani- 
festing is  an  infinite  sphere. 

"  God  is  a  rotating  globe  ;  the  world  is  God  rotating. 

"  The  whole  universe  is  material,  is  nothing  but  matter ; 
for  it  is  the  primary  act  repeating  -itself  eternally  in  the  cen- 
tre.    The  universe  is  a  rotating  globe  of  matter. 

"  There  is  no  dead  matter  ;  it  is  alive  through  its  being, 
through  the  Eternal  that  is  in  it.  Matter  has  no  existence  in 
itself,  but  it  is  the  Eternal  only  that  exists  in  it.  Every  thing 
is  God  that  is  there,  and  without  God  there  is  absolutely 
nothing. 

"  Every  thing  that  is  is  material.  Now,  however,  there  is 
nothing  that  is  not ;  consequently  there  is  every  where  nothing 
immaterial. 

"  Fire  is  the  totality  of  ether,  is  God  manifested  in  his 
totality. 


PHYSIO-PHILOSOPHY.  299 

"  Every  thing  that  is  has  originated  out  of  fire  ;  every  thing 
is  only  cooled,  rigidified  fire. 

"  God  being  in  himself  is  gravity  ;  acting,  self-emergent 
light ;  both  together,  or  returning  into  himself,  heat. 

"  God  only  is  monocentral.  The  world  is  the  bicentral  God, 
God  the  monocentral  world,  which  is  the  same  with  the  monas 
and  dyas.     Self-consciousness  is  a  living  ellipse. 

"  God  is  a  threefold  trinity ;  at  first  the  eternal,  then  the 
ethereal,  and  finally  the  terrestrial,  where  it  is  completely 
divided. 

"  The  symbolical  doctrine  of  the  colors  is  correct  according 
to  the  philosophy  of  nature.  Red  is  fire,  love  —  Father. 
Blue  is  air,  truth,  and  belief — Son.  Green  is  water,  forma- 
tion, hope  —  Ghost.  These  are  the  three  cardinal  virtues. 
Yellow  is  earth,  the  immovable,  inexorable  falsity,  the  only 
vice  —  Satan.  There  are  three  virtues,  but  only  one  vice. 
A  result  obtained  by  physio-philosophy,  whereof  pneumato- 
philosophy  as  yet  augurs  nothing. 

"  The  primary  mucus,  out  of  which  every  thing  organic 
has  been  created,  is  the  sea  mucus. 

"  The  whole  sea  is  alive.  It  is  a  fluctuating,  ever  self-ele- 
vating, and  ever  self-depressing  organism. 

'*  If  the  organic  fundamental  substance  consist  of  infusoria, 
so  must  the  whole  organic  world  originate  from  infusoria. 
Plants  and  animals  can  be  only  metamorphoses  of  infusoria. 
No  organism  has  consequently  been  created  of  larger  size  than 
an  infusorial  point :  whatever  is  larger  has  not  been  created, 
but  developed. 

"  The  mind,  just  as  the  body,  must  be  developed  out  of 
these  animals,  (infusoria.)  The  human  body  has  been  formed 
by  an  extreme  separation  of  the  neuro-protoplasmic  or  mucous 
mass  ;  so  must  the  human  mind  be  a  separation,  a  memberment 


300  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

of  infusorial  sensation.  The  highest  mind  is  an  anatomized 
or  dismembered  mesmerism,  each  member  whereof  has  been 
constituted  independent  in  itself. 

"  The  liver  is  the  soul  in  a  state  of  sleep,  the  brain  is  the 
soul  active  and  awakening. 

"  Circumspection  and  forethought  appear  to  be  the  thoughts 
of  the  bivalve  mollusca,  and  snails. 

"  Gazing  upon  a  snail,  one  believes  that  he  finds  the  proph- 
esying goddess  sitting  upon  the  tripod.  What  majesty  is  in 
a  creeping  snail,  what  reflection,  what  earnestness,  what 
timidity,  and  yet  at  the  same  time  what  firm  confidence  ! 
Surely  a  snail  is  an  exalted  symbol  of  mind  slumbering  deep- 
ly within  itself." 

It  is  difficult  for  an  Anglo-Saxon  mind  to  believe  that  a 
man  who  could  write  thus  was  not  out  of  his  senses.  Yet 
Oken  is  an  eminent  physiologist,  and  has  made,  it  is  said,  im- 
portant discoveries  in  respect  to  the  cranial  homologies,  which 
have  been  developed  in  Professor  Owen's  work  on  the  Homol- 
ogies of  the  Vertebrate  Skeleton.  Nay,  Oken  declares  him- 
self to  have  written  his  Physio-philosophy  "  in  a  kind  of  in- 
spiration "  —  from  what  world  the  religious  man  might  be  in 
doubt. 

These  extravagant  notions  show  what  is  the  natural  ten- 
dency of  the  law  hypothesis.  Yet  it  does  not  necessarily 
convert  a  man  into  an  atheist  And  if  any  of  its  advocates 
declare  themselves  Theists,  and  even  Christians,  we  need  not 
regard  them  as  hypocrites,  though  we  may  consider  them  as 
in  an  eminently  dangerous  position ;  and  that,  when  they  shall 
act  consistendy,  they  will  swing  off  into  utter  irreligion.  But 
my  arguments  against  the  hypothesis  will  be  based  on  the  posi- 
tion that  it  is  not  sustained  hy  facts ;  and  this  is  the  second 
position  of  my  lecture. 


THE  NEBULAR  HYPOTHESIS.  301 

The  nebular  hypothesis  is  a  part  of  the  foundation  on 
which  the  doctrine  of  creation  by  law  rests.  And  the  high 
scientific  reputation  of  its  author,  as  well  as  its  apparent  coin- 
cidence with  some  of  the  deductions  of  geology  respecting 
the  earliest  condition  of  the  earth,  have  made  philosophers 
look  upon  it  with  considerable  favor.  Yet  very  few  have 
been  ready  to  give  it  implicit  credence.  And  of  late  the 
most  plausible  evidence  in  its  favor  seems  to  be  fast  vanishing 
away.  The  ablest  mechanicians  are  unable  to  see  how  a 
rotary  motion  should  be  produced  in  nebulous  matter  by  re- 
frigeration ;  or,  if  this  be  assumed,  how  the  successive  por- 
tions, detached  by  superior  centrifugal  force,  should  form 
spherical  masses.  But  a  still  more  formidable  objection  lies 
in  the  fact  that,  as  improvements  are  made  in  telescopes,  one 
and  another  of  the  nebulae,  on  which  the  hypothesis  rests, 
have  been  resolved  into  stars  ;  and  the  presumption  hence 
arising  is  very  strong  that  all  are  resolvable.  In  the  present 
aspect  of  the  subject,  no  sagacious  philosopher  would  dare  to 
rest  even  an  hypothesis  upon  the  unresolved  nebulae.  If,  how- 
ever, the  nebular  hypothesis  were  shown  to  be  true,  it  would 
prove  nothing  in  regard  to  the  production  of  animals  and 
plants  by  mere  law,  without  the  special  agency  of  the  Deity. 

The  essential  and  inherent  vitality  of  some  kinds  of  matter 
is  another  doctrine  on  which  this  hypothesis  rests.  "  In 
vain,"  says  Bory  St.  Vincent,  "  has  matter  been  considered 
as  eminently  brute.  Many  observations  prove  that,  if  it  is 
not  all  active,  by  its  very  nature,  a  part  of  it  is  essentially  so ; 
and  the  presence  of  this,  operating  according  to  certain  laws, 
is  able  to  produce  life  in  an  agglomeration  of  the  molecules ; 
and  since  these  laws  will  always  be  imperfectly  known,  it 
will  at  least  be  rash  to  maintain  that  an  infinite  intelligence 
did  not  impose  thera  ;  since  they  are  manifested  by  their 
26 


302  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

results."  —  Dictionnaire  Classique  cC^Histoire  Naturelle,  art 
Materie. 

The  "  observations  "  to  which  this  writer  refers  to  sustain 
his  hypothesis  are  those  which  had  been  made  upon  certain 
vegetable  infusions,  which,  in  certain  circumstances,  exhibited 
minute  particles  in  motion,  apparently  by  vital  forces.  These 
were  called  monads,  and  were  not  supposed  to  be  distinct  ani- 
mals, but  only  atoms,  ready  to  be  organized.  The  more 
modern  and  accurate  researches  of  Ehrenberg  and  others, 
however,  have  shown,  beyond  all  doubt,  that  these  monads 
are  true  animals,  the  minutest  of  all  living  beings  hitherto 
discovered.  Not  less  than  twenty-six  species  of  them  have 
been  described  and  figured  by  microscopists,  the  smallest  of 
which  never  exceeds  the  twelve  thousandth  of  an  inch  in 
diameter. 

The  vegetable  physiologists  have  described  certain  peculiar 
motions  in  the  minute  vessels  of  plants,  that  might  readily  be 
regarded  as  matter  essentially  vital.  I  refer  to  what  they 
call  rotation  and  cyclosis.  But  these  are  never  seen  save  in  the 
living  plant ;  and,  therefore,  seem  dependent  on  the  general 
life  of  the  vegetable. 

There  is,  however,  danger  of  mistaking  certain  motions  of 
the  particles  of  matter,  by  chemical  agency,  for  the  effect  of 
vitality.  A  curious  example  is  thus  described  by  Ehrenberg, 
which  was  discovered  by  Professor  BornsdorfF.  "  If  a  solu- 
tion of  the  chloride  of  aluminum  be  dropped  into  a  solution  of 
potassa,  by  the  alternate  precipitation  and  solution  of  the  alu- 
minum, in  the  excess  of  the  alkali,  an  appearance  will  be 
given  to  the  drop  of  aluminate  matter,  by  the  chemical 
changes  and  reactions  which  take  place,  as  if  the  Amczha  dif- 
jluens  were  actually  present,  both  as  to  its  form  and  evolutions, 
and  will  seem  to  be  alive.     Such  appearance  is  considered  by 


INSECTS    PHODUCED    BY    GALVANISM.  303 

its  able  discoverer  as  bearing  the  same  relationship  to  the  real 
animalcule  as  a  doll,  or  a  figure  moved  by  mechanism,  does 
to  a  living  child." 

We  see,  then,  that  the  supports  on  which  rests  the  doctrine 
of  the  essential  vitality  of  matter,  give  way  before  better  in- 
struments and  more  careful  research.  Another  statement, 
however,  of  much  higher  pretensions,  has  lately  been  made, 
and  on  no  mean  authority.  Able  electricians  declare  that, 
by  passing  currents  of  galvanism  through  solutions  of  silicate 
or  ferrocyanate  of  potassa,  or  some  analogous  substance, 
after  a  time,  sometimes  several  years,  numerous  small  in- 
sects have  been  developed,  belonging  to  the  acari  family. 

These  experiments  appear  to  have  been  conducted  with 
fairness  and  skill ;  and  that  the  insects  showed  themselves  at 
the  pole  of  the  battery,  around  which  the  gelatinous  silex  col- 
lected, cannot  be  doubted.  It  is  true,  however,  that,  when 
the  solution  was  exposed  to  the  atmosphere,  the  insects  ap- 
peared much  sooner  and  more  numerous  than  when  care  was 
taken  to  exclude  every  thing  but  oxygen  enough  to  sustain 
life.  This  fact  leads  to  the  suspicion  that  the  ova  of  the  in- 
sect might  have  been  communicated  through  the  air,  and  that, 
even  when  an  attempt  was  made  to  exclude  the  atmosphere, 
some  ova  were  still  present.  This  conclusion  is  rendered 
still  more  probable  by  some  experiments  made  by  Professor 
Schulz,  of  Berlin,  on  the  production  of  infusoria.  Having 
first  boiled  the  vegetable  and  animal  infusions,  so  as  to  destroy 
all  germs  of  organic  life,  and  expelled  all  the  atmosphere,  he 
attached  an  apparatus  in  such  a  manner  that,  whatever  air 
entered  afterwards,  must  pass  through  sulphuric  acid,  or  a 
solution  of  potash.  The  result  was,  that  no  infusoria  or  vege- 
table forms  appeared  during  two  months ;  but  in  the  same 
infusion,  placed  in  the  open  air,  and  exposed  to  the  same  light 


304  CREATION    BY    LAW, 

and  heat  as  that  enclosed  in  the  glass  vessel,  numerous  ani- 
malcula  and  fungi  appeared  in  a  day  or  two.  It  will  need, 
therefore,  very  long  and  patient  experiments  to  establish  the 
assertion  that  galvanism  alone  can  produce  living  animals 
without  the  presence  of  germs. 

Not  many  years  since,  the  equivocal  or  casual  production 
of  animalcula,  without  any  other  parentage  than  law,  was 
thought  to  be  made  out  by  a  multitude  of  facts.  For  these  minute 
creatures  appeared  almost  every  where,  and  in  places  where 
it  seemed  impossible  that  their  ova  should  be  tound.  But  the 
researches  of  Ehrenberg  have  cleared  up  the  difficulties  of 
their  origination  in  the  ordinary  modes  of  reproduction,  in 
nearly  every  instance,  and  the  advocates  of  the  law  hypothe- 
sis have  been  fairly  driven  from  this  stronghold  of  their  argu- 
ment. In  describing  the  various  modes  of  reproduction  with 
which  nature  has  provided  the  infusoria,  Professor  Owen 
says,  "  Thus  each  leaves,  by  the  last  act  of  its  life,  the  means 
of  perpetuating  and  diffusing  its  species  by  thousands  of  fer- 
tile germs.  When  once  the  thickly-tenanted  pool  is  dried 
up,  and  its  bottom  converted  into  a  layer  of  dust,  these  incon- 
ceivably minute  and  light  ova  will  be  raised  with  the  dust  by 
the  first  puff  of  wind,  diffused  through  the  atmosphere,  and 
may  there  remain  long  suspended  ;  forming,  perhaps,  their 
share  of  the  particles  which  we  see  flickering  in  the  sunbeam, 
ready  to  fall  into  any  collection  of  water,  beaten  down  by 
every  summer  shower  into  the  streams  or  pools  which  receive 
or  may  be  formed  by  such  showers,  and,  by  virtue  of  their 
tenacity  of  life,  ready  to  develop  themselves  whenever  they 
may  find  the  requisite  conditions  of  their  existence.  The 
possibility,  or,  rather,  the  high  probability,  that  such  is  the 
design  of  the  oviparous  generation  of  the  infusoria,  and  such 
the  common  mode  of  the  diffusion  of  their  ova,  renders  the 


ORIGIN    OF    THE    ENTOZOA.  305 

hypothesis  of  equivocal  generation,  which  has  been  so  fre- 
quently invoked  to  explain  their  origin  in  new-formed  natural 
or  artificial  infusions,  quite  gratuitous."  —  Lectures  on  Comp. 
Anat.  vol.  ii.  p.  31. 

No  longer  able  to  maintain  a  foothold  among  the  animal- 
cula,  the  defenders  of  this  hypothesis  have  of  late  attempted 
to  take  a  stand  among  animals  of  a  somewhat  higher  grade, 
viz.,  the  entozoa,  or  animals  inhabiting  other  animals.  These 
being  considerably  larger  than  the  infusoria,  their  ova  could 
not  float  in  the  atmosphere  ;  but  they  possess  a  wonderful 
tenacity  of  life ;  some  of  them  exhibiting  signs  of  life  after 
having  been  in  boiling  water  for  an  hour ;  others  have  revived 
after  having  been  packed  for  a  long  time  in  ice,  and  frozen  ; 
others  have  revived  after  lying  in  a  dried  state  for  six  or 
seven  years.  Their  power  of  reproduction,  in  the  ordinary 
modes,  is  also  prodigious,  exceeding  even  that  of  the  infuso- 
ria. It  will,  then,  demand  very  strong  evidence  to  prove  that 
such  animals  possess  also  the  power  of  spontaneous  produc- 
tion, without  parentage,  or  that  their  existence  within  other 
animals  cannot  be  explained  without  such  a  supposition.  For, 
if  capable  of  being  produced  without  parentage,  why  should 
such  extraordinary  care  have  been  taken  for  their  multiplica- 
tion, in  almost  all  the  ordinary  modes  in  which  animals  are 
reproduced  ? 

The  extraordinary  facts  that  have  been  discovered  by  Pro- 
fessors Steenstrup,  Owen,  and  others,  within  a  few  years, 
respecting  what  they  call  alternate  generation^  or  partheno- 
genesis, have  been  thought  favorable  to  the  hypothesis  of  de- 
velopment. Among  the  mollusca,  the  polyparia,  the  entozoa, 
and  infusoria,  it  is  found  that,  in  some  species,  the  result  of 
sexual  union  is  the  production  of  a  larva  without  sex,  and, 
therefore,  incapable  of  propagating  in  the  usual  way.  Yet 
26* 


306  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

that  larva  can  of  itself  produce  another  larva  quite  different 
from  itself,  and  this  larva  another,  and  so  on,  sometimes  for 
eight  or  ten  generations,  when  the  spermatic  force  seems  to 
be  exhausted,  and  a  progeny  exactly  like  the  original  parents 
that  started  the  series  is  produced,  capable  of  giving  rise  to 
another  and  a  similar  series.  Here,  then,  we  find  a  succes- 
sion of  progeny  for  several  generations,  and  all  quite  un- 
like one  another,  yet  without  any  immediate  parental 
agency.  Why  is  it  not  an  example  of  spontaneous  gen- 
eration ?  and  why  may  not  new  species  be  produced  in  this 
manner .? 

There  are  two  facts  prominent  on  this  subject  which  afford 
a  full  answer  to  such  questions.  One  is,  that  these  genera- 
tions of  larvae  always  begin  with  the  spermatozoon  and  the 
ovum  of  parents ;  the  other  is,  that  the  series  always  closes, 
if  allowed  to  run  its  natural  course,  in  individuals  with  sex, 
exactly  identical  with  those  that  started  it ;  so  that  the  spe- 
cies always  remains  entire.  The  whole  process  is  simply  one 
of  the  infinitely  varied  modes  which  nature  employs  to  pre- 
serve and  perfect  the  species.  The  process  never  stops  with 
any  of  the  larvce  intervening  between  the  fertile  parents  at 
the  beginning,  and  the  fertile  individuals  at  the  end  of  the 
series.  Professor  Owen  supposes  —  certainly  with  much 
plausibility  —  that  some  of  the  original  germ-cells,  not  wanted 
for  the  production  of  the  first  larva,  pass  on  to  form  the  suc- 
cessive generations,  till  the  series  is  complete  ;  so  that,  after 
all,  the  case  is  not  an  exception  to  the  general  law  of  repro- 
duction by  parental  agency ;  and  instead  of  sustaining,  it 
certainly  goes  against,  the  notion  of  spontaneous  generation 
and  of  transmutation  of  species  ;  because  it  shows  how  far 
parental  influence  may  reach,  and  how  tenacious  nature  is  of 
specific  disthictions.     For  the  same  reasons,  the  case  affords 


PLANTS    WITHOUT    SEEDS.  307 

a  presumption  against  other  alleged  cases  of  equivocal  gener- 
ation and  metamorphoses  of  species.* 

Appeal  has  also  been  made  to  the  vegetable  kingdom  for 
examples  of  the  production  of  organic  beings,  viz.,  plants 
without  seeds.  Who  has  not  observed,  for  instance,  how  the 
clearing  up  and  burning  over  of  a  piece  of  land  will  often 
cause  an  entirely  new  tribe  of  plants  to  spring  up  and  flour- 
ish ?  Whence  came  the  seeds  ?  We  have  seen,  for  in- 
stance, (in  Richmond,  Virginia,)  a  thick  growth  of  pines 
upon  a  spot  where  from  six  to  ten  feet  of  soil  had  been 
removed  a  few  years  previously. 

It  is  very  possible,  in  some  cases  of  this  kind,  that  the  soil, 
having  been  produced  by  aqueous  agencies,  may  contain 
seeds  to  a  considerable  depth,  and  that  their  vitality  may 
have  been  preserved  for  centuries ;  for  we  know  that  seeds 
three  thousand  years  old,  taken  from  Egyptian  catacombs, 
have  germinated,  in  favorable  circumstances.  In  most  cases 
of  this  sort,  however,  the  winds  have  probably  supplied  the 
seed,  it  may  be,  long  before.  We  were  one  day  wandering 
over  Mount  Holyoke,  where  a  spot  recently  cleared  was  cov- 
ered with  the  fire- weed,  a  species  of  senecio  ;  and  as  we  were 
musing  upon  its  origin,  a  strong  blast  of  wind  swept  over  the 
plants,  just  ready  to  throw  off  their  seeds.  Sustained  by 
their  light  egrets,  they  floated  away  on  the  air  in  numbers 
sufficient  to  cover  half  the  mountain  with  the  plant,  when  it 
should  be  cleared  and  burnt  over.  Yet  their  existence  would 
never  be  suspected  till  those  circumstances  should  be  devel- 

*  For  the  details  of  this  remarkable  subject,  see  the  "  Partheno- 
genesis" of  Professor  Owen,  p.  76,  (London,  1849;)  Steenstrup's 
''Alternation  of  Generations,"  published  by  the  Ray  Society  in 
1845,  and  Sedgwick's  "  Discourse  on  the  Studies  of  the  University," 
Supplement,  p.  193,  (London,  1850.) 


CREATION    BY    LAW. 

oped.  At  least,  until  we  can  prove  that  the  soil  contains  no 
seeds  by  the  most  careful  examination,  it  will  be  premature 
to  infer  the  equivocal  production  of  the  plants  growing 
upon  it. 

Vegetable  physiology  furnishes  another  fact,  which  seems 
to  me  to  look  still  more  favorable  to  this  law  hypothesis  than 
the  preceding,  although  it  has  not  been  noticed,  so  far  as  I 
know,  by  the  advocates  of  that  hypothesis.  Speaking  of  the 
matter  of  which  certain  flowerless  plants  are  composed.  Dr. 
Lindlay  says,  "  It  is  even  uncertain  whether  this  matter  will 
produce  its  like,  and  whether  it  is  not  a  mere  representation 
of  the  vital  principle  of  vegetation,  capable  of  being  called 
into  action,  either  as  a  fungus,  or  algse,  or  lichen,  according 
to  the  particular  conditions  of  heat,  light,  and  moisture,  and 
the  medium  in  which  it  is  placed ;  producing  fungi  upon  dead 
or  putrid  organic  beings,  lichens  upon  living  vegetables, 
earth,  or  stones,  and  algse  where  water  is  the  medium  in 
which  it  is  developed."  Again,  in  speaking  of  that  green 
slime  which  often  covers  the  soil,  rocks,  walls,  and  glass  in 
damp  places,  he  says,  "  The  slime  resembles  a  layer  of  albu- 
men, spread  with  a  brush  ;  it  exfoliates  in  drying,  and  finally 
becomes  visible  by  the  manner  in  which  it  colors  green  or 
deep  brown.  One  might  call  it  a  provisional  creation,  waiting 
to  be  organized,  and  then  assuming  different  forms  according 
to  the  nature  of  the  corpuscles  which  penetrate  it,  or  develop 
among  it.  It  may  further  be  said  to  be  the  origin  of  two 
very  distinct  existences,  the  one  certainly  animal,  the  other 
purely  vegetable."  —  Natural  System,  pp.  326,  328,  334. 

Now,  admitting  all  the  facts  that  have  been  detailed  respect- 
ing the  production  of  infusoria,  entozoa,  acari,  and  cryptoga- 
mian  plants  to  be  true,  although  most  of  them  are  far  from 
being  proved,  it  seems  to  me  that  they  do  not  show  us  how 


I.IFE    DISTINCT    FROM    ORGANIZATION.  309 

vitality  is  produced  by  mere  law,  without  the  special  agency 
of  the  Deity.  Writers  on  the  subject  seem  to  overlook  the 
distinction  between  organization  and  life.  The  first  may  be 
present  in  its  highest  perfection  without  the  latter,  as  it  is  in 
animals  and  plants  recently  killed.  The  organization  is 
merely  a  preparation  to  receive  the  mysterious  principles 
which  we  call  life  and  intellect.  Light,  heat,  and  electricity 
may  be  the  essential  agents  in  producing  the  organization, 
but  they  do  not  explain  the  nature,  or  account  for  the  presence, 
of  life.  That  must,  so  far  as  we  know,  come  from  some 
other  and  a  higher  source.  Galvanism  may  bring  gelatinous 
matter  into  the  form  of  an  insect,  or  infusoria,  or  entozoa ; 
but  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  can  impart  life,  however  ex- 
quisite the  organization.  It  may  be,  and  we  have  reason  to 
suppose  it  is,  the  divine  will  to  bestow  life  whenever  a  certain 
organization  exists ;  but  this  does  not  show  that  his  special 
agency  is  not  concerned  in  it.  He  may  will  that  the  peculiar 
life  of  a  lichen  shall  be  given  to  the  same  elementary  matter 
which,  in  another  situation,  he  constitutes  an  alga,  or  a  fun- 
gus, or  even  an  animal.  But  this  would  not  prove  that  natu- 
ral law  alone  could  produce  life.  There  is  nowhere  any  evi- 
dence that  sensibility,  contractility,  and  especially  intellect 
and  volition,  are  the  result  of  any  natural  operations.  In 
their  properties  they  are  so  entirely  diverse  from  all  known 
physical  effects,  that  we  must  impute  them  to  some  other 
than  a  natural  cause.  We  must  call  in  the  power  of  a  su- 
preme intelligent  Being.  The  laws  of  affinity,  light,  heat, 
and  electricity,  of  endosmose  and  exosmose,  may  prepare 
the  organization,  but  their  power  ends  there  ;  and  hence  true 
philosophy  requires  us  to  impute  the  phenomena  of  life  and 
intellect  to  an  extraneous  and  infinitely  higher  cause. 

The  case,  then,  stands  thus  :  In  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a 


310  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

hundred,  we  are  certain  that  organization  requires  the  previous 
existence  and  agency  of  a  being  similarly  organized,  which  we 
call  the  parent.  But  suppose  that,  in  a  very  few  cases,  the 
laws  of  nature  can  produce  the  organization.  It  still  demands 
another  and  a  higher  power  —  not  a  blind  impulse,  but  an 
intelligent  cause  —  to  bestow  life  and  intellect.  To  prove  the 
existence  of  a  natural  cause  for  the  arrangement  of  the  atoms 
into  an  organic  structure,  does  by  no  means  prove  the  same 
for  those  higher  and  mysterious  principles  that  make  that 
structure  a  living,  thinking  being. 

Such,  however,  are  the  strongest  arguments  by  which  the 
advocates  of  the  law  hypothesis  sustain  their  views  of  the 
origin  of  organism,  life,  and  intellect.  The  next  step  in  their 
reasoning  is  to  show  how  animals  and  plants  may  be  trans- 
muted from  one  species,  or  genus,  or  family,  to  another ;  so 
that  the  existing  vast  variety  can  be  traced  to  a  few  original 
germs.  They  maintain  that  these  developments  of  the  more 
from  the  less  perfect  have  proceeded  along  certain  parallel 
lines  ;  one  series  of  developments,  for  instance,  taking  the 
line  of  the  fishes,  another  of  the  reptiles,  another  of  the  birds, 
another  of  quadrupeds,  and  so  on. 

To  prove  these  developments  or  transmutations,  they  ap- 
peal first  to  the  physiological  history  of  the  mammalian  em- 
bryo. In  its  earliest  stages,  it  can  hardly  be  distinguished, 
except  in  size,  from  the  unborn  polygastric  infusoria.  The 
brain  of  a  human  embryo  appears  at  first  like  that  of  an  in- 
vertebrate animal ;  next  like  that  of  a  fish  ;  then  successively 
like  that  of  a  reptile,  a  bird,  a  rodent  mammal,  a  ruminant, 
and  a  monkey.  So  the  heart,  at  an  early  stage,  looks  like 
that  of  an  insect ;  then  it  has  two  chambers,  like  that  of  a 
fish;  then  it  becomes  three  chambered,  like  that  of  a  rep- 
tile ;  and  finally,  four  chambered,  as  in  the  mammalia.     The 


HYBRIDITY.  311 

inference  which  these  theorists  would  draw  from  such  facts 
is,  that  man  actually  begins  his  existence  as  an  animalcule, 
and  passes  successively  through  the  mould  or  condition  of 
other  animals,  before  he  reaches  the  highest.  And  the  rea- 
sons why  he  does  become  a  man,  rather  than  an  echinoderm, 
or  a  fish,  or  a  monkey,  is  only  some  slightly  modifying  cir- 
cumstance, as,  for  instance,  a  longer  gestation.  It  appears  to 
me,  however,  that  the  inferences  sound  philosophy  should 
derive  from  such  facts  are,  first,  that,  while  there  is  a  seem- 
ing resemblance  between  the  human  embryo  and  that  of 
lower  animals,  there  is,  in  fact,  a  real  and  a  wide  diversity ; 
so  that  the  one  infallibly  becomes  an  inferior  animal,  and  the 
other  a  man.  Could  a  single  example  be  produced  in  which 
a  human  embryo  stopped  at  and  became  an  insect,  or  a  fish, 
or  a  monkey,  there  might  be  some  plausibility  in  the  supposi- 
tion. But  it  is  as  certain  to  become  a  man  as  the  sun  is  to 
rise  and  set ;  and,  therefore,  the  human  condition  results  from 
laws  as  fixed  as  those  that  regulate  the  movements  of  the 
heavenly  bodies.  That  is  a  very  superficial  philosophy 
which  infers  identity  of  nature  from  mere  external  resem- 
blance. 

The  phenomena  of  hybridity  furnish  another  ground  of 
argument  in  favor  of  the  transmutation  of  species,  and  of 
course  in  favor  of  the  law  hypothesis ;  for  that  hybrids  are 
sometimes  the  result  of  the  union  of  different  species  will  not 
be  denied.  There  is,  however,  a  natural  repugnance  to  union 
between  different  species ;  and  in  a  state  of  nature  this  can 
very  rarely  be  overcome.  But  domestication  changes  and 
almost  obliterates  many  natural  instincts,  and  hence  hybridity 
is  far  more  common  among  domesticated  animals  and  plants. 
As  a  general  fact,  also,  the  hybrid  offspring  is  incapable  of 
propagating   its   own    race,  without  union   with  one  of  the 


312  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

original  species  by  which  it  was  produced  ;  and  this  inability  to 
continue  this  mixed  race  has  been  generally  regarded  among 
naturalists  as  the  best  characteristic  of  species.  Some,  how- 
ever, attempt  to  show  that  some  hybrid  races  do  continue  from 
generation  to  generation  to  propagate  their  kind.  But  in  most 
cases  the  hybrid  race  ere  long  runs  out,  and  there  is  always 
a  strong  tendency  to  revert  to  the  original  stock  ;  and  were 
it  not  for  the  influence  of  man,  probably  such  a  thing  as  hy- 
bridity  would  scarcely  ever  have  been  heard  of.  Nature 
seems  to  have  established  strong  barriers  around  species,  so 
that  an  identity  should  be  preserved  ;  and  even  if  we  admit 
the  possibiHty  of  their  coalescence  in  some  cases,  yet  we  have 
evidence  that  almost  always  they  are  preserved  distinct  from 
century  to  century  ;  and  the  same  is  true  even  of  the  more 
prominent  varieties,  for  we  find  not  only  the  same  species, 
but  the  same  varieties  of  animals  and  plants,  preserved  some 
three  thousand  years  in  the  Egyptian  catacombs,  that  are  now 
alive  in  the  same  country.  How  idle,  then,  to  suppose  that 
the  laws  of  hybridity  will  account  for  such  radical  and  entire 
transmutations  as  this  hypothesis  supposes  !  To  accomplish 
this,  it  would  need  as  strong  a  tendency  in  nature  to  a  union 
of  species,  genera,  and  families,  as  now  exists  against  it. 

But  a  special  appeal  has  been  made  on  this  subject  to  geol- 
ogy. The  history  of  organic  remains,  it  is  thought,  corre- 
sponds to  what  we  might  expect,  if  the  hypothesis  of  develop- 
ment is  true.  In  the  oldest  rocks  we  find  chiefly  the  more 
simple  invertebrate  animals,  and  the  vertebrated  tribes  appear 
at  first  in  the  form  of  fish,  then  of  reptiles,  then  of  birds,  then 
of  mammals,  and  last  of  all  of  man.  What  better  confirma- 
tion could  we  wish  than  this  gradually  expanding  series .'' 
True,  all  the  great  classes  of  organic  beings,  vegetable  and 
animal,  are  found  nearly  at  the  earliest  epoch,  and  continue 


EARLIEST    VERTEBRATE    ANIMALS.  313 

through  the  entire  series  of  rocks.  But  we  have  only  to  sup- 
pose a  distinct  stirps  for  each  of  the  classes,  and  that  the  de- 
velopments took  place  along  parallel  lines,  in  order  to  harmo- 
nize the  facts  with  the  hypothesis. 

Such  a  general  view  of  the  subject  of  organic  remains 
seems  to  give  plausibility  to  the  hypothesis  of  organic  devel- 
opment. But  the  tables  are  turned  when  we  descend  to  par- 
ticulars. The  idea  of  a  distinct  stirps  or  germ  for  each  great 
class  of  animals  and  plants  seems  to  me  to  destroy  an  essen- 
tial feature  of  the  hypothesis.  It  supposes  that  law  produces 
at  once  a  vertebral  animal  and  a  flowering  plant ;  for  the  first, 
certainly,  we  find  in  the  very  lowest  of  the  fossiliferous  rocks. 
"  The  lower  silurian,"  says  Sir  Roderick  Murchison,  in  1847, 
"  is  no  longer  to  be  viewed  as  an  invertebrate  period,  for  the 
onchus  (a  genus  of  fish)  has  been  found  in  tho  Llandeilo 
Flags,  and  in  the  lower  silurian  rocks  of  Bala." 

It  is  also  a  most  important  fact,  that  this  fish  of  the  oldest 
rock  was  not,  as  the  development  scheme  would  require,  of  a 
low  organization,  but  quite  high  on  the  scale  of  fishes.  The 
same  is  true  of  all  the  earliest  species  of  this  class.  "  All  our 
most  ancient  fossil  fishes,"  says  Professor  Sedgwick,  "  belong 
to  a  high  organic  type  ;  and  the  very  oldest  species  that  are 
well  determined  fall  naturally  into  an  order  of  fishes  which 
Owen  and  MiJller  place,  not  at  the  bottom,  but  at  the  top  of 
the  whole  class."  —  Discourse  on  the  Studies  of  the  Univer- 
sity^ &c.  5th  edit.  p.  Ixiv.  pref. 

This  point  has  been  fully  and  ably  discussed  by  Hugh  Mil- 
ler, Esq.,  in  his  late  work,  "  The  Footprints  of  the  Creator,  or 
the  Asterolepis  of  Stromness."  The  asterolepis  was  one  of 
these  fishes  found  in  the  old  red  sandstone,  sometimes  over 
twenty  feet  long ;  yet,  says  Mr.  Miller,  "  instead  of  being, 
as  the  development  hypothesis  would  require,  a  fish  low  in  its 
27 


314  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

organization,  it  seems  to  have  ranged  on  the  level  of  the 
highest  ichthyic-reptilian  families  ever  called  into  existence.' 
Another  point  which  Mr.  Miller  has  labored  hard  to  estab 
lish,  and  of  which  there  seems  to  be  no  reasonable  doubt,  is 
that  in  many  families  of  animals,  not  only  v/ere  the  first  spe 
cies  that  appeared  of  high  organization,  but  there  was  a  grad 
ual  degradation  among  those  that  were  created  afterwards 
Of  the  fishes  generally,  he  says,  that  "  the  progress  of  the 
race,  as  a  whole,  though  it  still  retains  not  a  few  of  the  higher 
forms,  has  been  a  progress,  not  of  development  from  the  low 
to  the  high,  but  of  degradation  from  the  high  to  the  low." 
Again  he  says,  "  We  know,  as  geologists,  that  the  dynasty  of 
the  fish  was  succeeded  by  that  of  the  reptile  ;  that  the  dy- 
nasty of  the  reptile  was  succeeded  by  that  of  the  mammiferous 
quadruped  ;  and  that  the  dynasty  of  the  mammiferous  quad- 
ruped was  succeeded  by  that  of  man,  as  man  now  exists  —  a 
creature  of  a  mixed  character,  and  subject,  in  all  conditions,  to 
wide  alternations  of  enjoyment  and  suffering.  We  know  fur- 
ther,—  so  far,  at  least,  as  we  have  succeeded  in  deciphering 
the  record,  —  that  the  several  dynasties  were  introduced,  not 
in  their  lower,  but  in  their  higher  forms ;  that,  in  short,  in  the 
imposing  programme  of  creation,  it  was  arranged  as  a  general 
rule,  that  in  each  of  the  great  divisions  of  the  procession  the 
magnates  should  walk  first.  We  recognize  yet  further  tho 
fact  of  degradation  specially  exemplified  in  the  fish  and  the 
reptile."  "  Among  these  degraded  races,  that  of  the  footless 
serpent,  which  goeth  upon  its  belly,  has  long  been  noted  by 
the  theologian  as  a  race  typical,  in  its  condition  and  nature, 
of  an  order  of  hopelessly  degraded  beings,  borne  down  to  the 
dust  by  a  clinging  curse  ;  and  curiously  enough,  when  the 
first  comparative  anatomists  in  the  world  give  their  readiest 
and    most    prominent    instance   of    degradation    among   the 


DETERIORATION    OF    RACES.  315 

divisions  of  the  natural  world,  it  is  this  very  order  of  footless 
reptiles  that  they  select." 

Among  the  invertebrate  animals  are  numerous  examples 
of  the  deterioration  of  a  race.  M.  Alcide  D'Orbigny,  one 
of  the  most  accomplished  of  living  paleontologists,  in  his 
Cours  Elementaire  de  Paleontologie  et  de  Geologie,  speaks  as 
follows  of  the  cephalopods  found  in  the  oldest  rocks  :  "  See, 
then,  the  result ;  the  cephalopods,  the  most  perfect  of  the 
mollusks,  which  lived  in  the  early  period  of  the  world,  show 
a  progress  of  degradation  in  their  generic  forms.  AVe  insist 
on  this  fact  relative  to  the  cephalopods,  which  we  shall  here- 
after compare  with  the  less  perfect  classes  of  mollusks,  since 
it  must  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  the  mollusks,  as  to  their 
classes,  have  certainly  retrograded  from  the  compound  to  the 
simple,  or  from  the  more  to  the  less  perfect." 

Such  facts  as  these  are  absolutely  fatal  to  the  hypothesis 
of  development ;  and  geology  abounds  with  them.  Indeed, 
through  all  her  archives,  we  search  in  vain  for  facts  that  show 
any  thing  like  a  passage  of  one  species,  genus,  or  family,  into 
another.  Certain  distinct  types  characterize  the  different 
formations  up  to  a  certain  period,  when  there  is  a  sudden 
change  ;  and  in  the  subsequent  strata  we  find  animals  and 
plants  entirely  different  from  those  that  have  disappeared. 
The  new  races  are,  indeed,  often  of  a  higher  grade  than  those 
that  preceded  them,  but  could  not  have  sprung  from  them. 

The  true  theory  of  animal  and  vegetable  existence  on  our 
globe  appears  to  be  this :  Such  natures  were  placed  upon  the 
earth  as  were  adapted  to  its  varying  condition.  When  the 
earliest  group  was  created,  such  were  the  climate,  the  atmos- 
phere, the  waters,  and  the  means  of  subsistence,  that  the  lower 
tribes  were  best  adapted  to  the  condition  of  things.  That 
group  occupied  tlie  earth  till  such  changes  had  occurred  as  to 


316  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

make  it  imsuited  to  their  natures,  and  consequently  they  died 
out,  and  new  races  were  brought  in  ;  not  by  mere  law,  but  by 
divine  benevolence,  power,  and  wisdom.  These  tribes  also 
passed  away,  when  the  condition  of  things  was  so  changed  as 
to  be  uncongenial  to  their  natures,  to  give  place  to  a  third 
group,  and  these  again  to  a  fourth,  and  so  on  to  the  present 
races,  which,  in  their  turn,  perhaps,  are  destined  to  become 
extinct.  From  the  first,  however,  the  changes  which  the  earth 
has  undergone,  as  to  temperature,  soil,  and  climate,  have  been 
an  improvement  of  its  condition  ;  so  that  each  successive 
group  of  animals  and  plants  could  be  more  and  more  compli' 
cated  and  perfect ;  and  therefore  we  find  an  increase  and 
development  of  flowering  plants  and  vertebral  animals.  And 
yet,  from  the  beginning,  all  the  great  classes  seem  to  have 
existed,  so  that  the  changes  have  been  only  in  the  proportion 
of  the  more  and  less  perfect  at  different  periods.  In  short,  we 
have  only  to  suppose  that  the  Creator  exactly  adapted  organic 
natures  to  the  several  geological  periods,  and  we  perfectly 
explain  the  phenomena  of  organic  remains.  But  the  doctrine 
of  development  by  law  corresponds  only  in  a  loose  and  gen- 
eral way  to  the  facts,  and  cannot  be  reconciled  to  the  details. 
If  that  hypothesis  cannot  get  a  better  foothold  somewhere 
else,  it  will  soon  find  its  way  into  the  limbo  of  things  abortive 
and  forgotten. 

I  have  now  noticed,  I  believe,  the  principal  sources  of  evi- 
dence in  which  the  law  hypothesis  rests  ;  and  at  the  best,  we 
find  only  a  possibility,  but  rarely,  if  ever,  a  probability,  that 
such  a  power  exists  in  nature.  I  turn  nov/,  for  a  few  mo- 
ments, to  the  arguments  on  the  other  side  ;  that  is,  against  the 
hypothesis, 

Andjirst^  it  cannot  explain  the  loonderful  adaptation  of  ani- 
7nah  and  plants  to  their  condition  and  to  one  another. 


LAW   ANOTHER    NAME    FOR    THE    DEITY.  317 

There  is  not  a  more  striking  thing  in  nature  than  that  adap- 
tation ;  and  geology  shows  us  that  it  has  always  been  so. 
Now,  if  any  thing  requires  the  exercise  of  infinite  wisdom  and 
power,  it  is  this  feature  of  creation.  But  according  to  this 
hypothesis,  the  laws  of  nature  may  be  so  arranged  as  to  cre- 
ate every  animal  and  plant  just  at  the  right  time,  and  place 
them  in  the  right  spot,  and  adjust  every  thing  around  them  to 
their  nature  and  wants.  In  other  words,  it  supposes  law 
capable  of  doing  what  only  infinite  wisdom  and  power  can  do. 
What  is  this  but  ascribing  infinite  perfection  to  law,  and  im- 
puting to  it  effects  which  only  an  infinite  intelligence  could 
bring  about  ?  In  other  words,  it  is  making  a  Deity  of  the 
laws  which  he  ordains.  Theoretically  it  may  be  of  little  im- 
portance by  what  name  men  call  the  Deity  ;  but  practically 
to  impute  natural  effects  to  law,  as  an  independent  power,  is 
to  put  a  blind,  unintelligent  agency  in  the  place  of  Jehovah. 

Ill  the  second  place,  where  one  fact  in  nature  looks  few  or  able 
to  this  hypothesis,  a  thousand  facts  teach  the  contrary. 

Take  for  example  the  reproduction  of  animals.  Out  of 
every  thousand  individuals  we  have  certain  evidence  that  nine 
hundred  and  ninety-nine  are  brought  into  existence  by  the 
ordinary  modes  of  generation  ;  that  is,  they  depend  upon  pro- 
genitors. Still,  if  in  the  thousandth  case  the  animal's  exist- 
ence was  clearly  casual,  if  we  could  see  an  elephant,  or  an 
ox,  start  into  life  without  parental  agency,  that  single  case 
would  prove  the  hypothesis.  But  never  do  its  advocates  pre- 
tend that  any  of  the  larger  animals  are  produced  in  this  way. 
Nor  is  it  till  they  get  among  the  smaller  and  obscure  animals, 
whose  habits  are  very  difficult  to  trace  out,  that  we  find  any 
examples  where  a  suspicion  even  can  exist  of  the  communi- 
cation of  vitality  irrespective  of  parental  agency.  Is  not  a 
strong  presumption   hence   produced  that  further  and  more 


318  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

scrutinizing  observation  will  show  the  few  excepted  cases  not 
to  be  real  exceptions  ?  Does  not  sound  philosophy  demand 
that  the  proof  of  the  casual  production  of  the  thousandth  case 
shall  be  as  decided  as  that  of  the  normal  generation  of  the 
nine  hundred  and  ninety-nine?  But  no  one,  it  seems  to  me, 
will  pretend  that  any  thing  like  such  certainty  exists  in  a  single 
example  throughout  all  nature.  The  presumption,  then,  is 
really  more  than  a  thousand  to  one  against  the  hypothesis. 

Take  an  example  from  hybridity.  While  a  thousand  spe- 
cies retain  from  age  to  age  their  individuality,  not  more  than 
one  coalesces  with  its  neighbor,  and  loses  its  identity.  And 
even  here,  all  admit  that  there  is  a  constant  tendency  in  the 
hybrid  race  to  revert  to  the  original  stock  ;  and  there  is  strong 
reason  to  believe  that  this  will  sooner  or  later  take  place,  and 
that  it  would  speedily  occur  in  every  case,  were  it  not  for  the 
influence  of  domestication.  Such  facts  make  the  presump- 
tion very  strong,  that  species  are  permanent,  and  any  exten- 
sive metamorphosis  impossible.  Hybridity  appears  to  be  in  a 
measure  unnatural  ;  and  the  old  proverb  true  in   respect  to 

it  — 

•'  Si  furca  naturam  expellas, 

Usque  recurret." 

By  the  hypothesis  under  consideration,  we  ought  to  expec* 
at  least  a  few  examples  of  the  formation  of  new  organs  in 
animals,  in  the  efforts  of  nature  to  advance  towards  a  more 
perfect  state.  It  has  usually  been  said  that  the  time  since 
animals  were  first  described  is  too  short  for  such  develop- 
ment. But  we  have  examples,  from  the  catacombs  of  Egypt, 
of  animals  and  plants  that  lived  in  that  country  three  thousand 
years  ago  ;  and  yet,  according  to  Cuvier,  —  and  who  is  a  better 
judge  ?  — they  are  precisely  like  the  living  species.  Strange 
that  this  great  length  of  time  should  not  have  produced  even 


GEOLOGY    OrFOSED.  319 

one  new  organ,  or  the  marks  of  a  conatus  to  produce  one. 
We  are,  indeed,  pointed  to  the  different  varieties  of  the  hu- 
nfian  species,  as  examples  of  this  progress.  But  these  diver- 
sities, also,  can  be  shown  to  be  the  same  now  as  at  the 
earliest  date  of  historical  records  ;  and  where,  then,  is  the  evi- 
dence that  they  ever  have  undergone,  or  ever  will  undergo, 
any  change  of  importance  ?  There  may  indeed  be  examples 
of  amalgamation,  but  under  favorable  circumstances  the  origi- 
nal varieties  are  again  developed. 

In  the  third  place,  geology  contradicts  this  hypothesis. 

We  have  seen  that  it  offers  no  satisfactory  explanation  of 
the  gradual  increase  of  the  more  perfect  animals  and  plants, 
as  we  rise  higher  in  the  rocks.  That  fact  is  most  perfectly 
explained  by  supposing  that  divine  wisdom  and  benevolence 
adapted  the  new  species,  which  from  time  to  time  were  cre- 
ated, to  the  changing  and  improving  condition  of  the  earth. 
A  multitude  of  species  have  been  dug  from  the  rocks  ;  but 
not  one  exhibits  evidence  of  the  development  of  new  organs 
in  the  manner  described  by  this  hypothesis.  New  sj)e- 
cies  often  appear,  but  they  differ  as  decidedly  from  the  pre- 
vious ones  as  species  now  do ;  and  at  the  beginning  of  each 
formation  there  is  often  a  very  decided  advance  in  the  organic 
beings  from  those  found  in  the  top  of  the  subjacent  formation. 
How  can  this  hypothesis  explain  such  sudden  changes,  when 
its  essential  principle  is,  that  the  progress  of  the  development 
is  uniform  ?  Nothing  can  explain  them  surely  but  special 
creating  interposition. 

Geology  also  shows  us  that  for  a  vast  period  the  world 
existed  without  inhabitants.  Now,  what  was  it  that  gave  the 
laws  of  nature  power,  after  so  long  an  operation  unproductive 
of  vitality,  to  produce  organic  natures?  Who  can  conceive 
of  any  inherent  force  that  should  thus  enable  them,  all  at 


320  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

once,  to  do  what  true  philosophy  shows  to  have  demanded 
infinite  skill  ? 

In  short,  of  all  the  sciences,  geology  most  clearly  shows 
special  divine  interference  to  explain  its  phenomena.  It  pre- 
sents us  with  such  stupendous  changes,  after  long  periods  of 
repose,  such  sudden  exhibitions  of  life,  springing  forth  from 
the  bosom  of  universal  death,  that  nothing  but  divine,  special, 
miraculous  agency  can  explain  the  results.  And  of  all  the 
vast  domains  of  nature,  it  seems  to  me  no  part  is  so  barren 
of  facts  to  sustain  this  hypothesis  as  the  rocks  ;  nor  so  full 
of  facts  for  its  refutation.  These,  however,  have  been  so 
fully  detailed  in  a  previous  part  of  this  lecture  that  they  need 
not  be  here  repeated. 

In  the  fourth  place,  the  prodigious  increase  of  the  power 
and  the  means  of  reproduction,  which  we  find  among  the  loioer 
tribes  of  animals,  affords  a  sti'ong  presumption  against  this 
hypothesis. 

The  animals  highest  on  the  scale,  and  most  perfect  in  their 
organization,  have  only  one  mode  of  reproduction,  viz.,  the 
viviparous.  Descending  a  little  lower,  we  come  to  the  ovip- 
arous and  ovoviviparous  tribes.  Passing  to  the  invertebrate 
animals,  we  meet  with  two  other  modes  of  reproduction,  the 
gemmiparous  and  fissiparous.  In  the  first  mode,  the  animal 
is  propagated  by  buds,  like  some  plants,  as  the  tiger  lily  ;  by 
the  second  mode,  a  spontaneous  division  of  the  animal  takes 
place. 

Now,  in  some  of  the  lowest  of  the  invertebrate  tribes,  we 
find  most  of  the  modes  of  propagation  that  have  been  enumer- 
ated in  operation  ;  so  that  the  same  individual  in  one  set  of 
circumstances  is  oviparous,  in  another  gemmiparous  or  fissip- 
arous. The  consequence  is,  a  power  of  multiplication  in- 
conceivably  great.      Mr.   Owen  calculates  that  the   ascaris 


SUPPOSED    PROOFS    DIMINISHING.  321 

lumhricoides,  the  most  common  intesimal  worm,  is  capable 
of  producing  sixty-four  millions  of  young  ;  and  Ehrenberg 
asserts  that  the  hjdatina  sejifa,  one  of  the  mfusoria,  increased 
in  twelve  days  to  sixteen  millions,  and  another  species,  in  four 
days,  to  one  hundred  and  seventy  billions. 

Why,  now,  are  these  astonishing  powers  of  reproduction 
given  to  these  minute  animals,  if  it  be  true  that  they  can  also 
be  produced  without  parentage,  and  by  mere  law  ?  This  lat- 
ter mode  would  supersede  the  necessity  of  the  former;  and, 
therefore,  the  care  taken  by  Providence  to  provide  the  for- 
mer is  a  strong  presumption  that  the  latter  does  not  exist. 

In  the  Jlfth  place,  it  is  an  instructive  fact  on  this  subject 
that,  as  instruments  have  been  improved,  and  observations 
have  become  more  searching,  the  supposed  cases  of  spontaneous 
generation  have  diminished,  until  it  is  not  pretended  now  that 
it  takes  place  except  in  a  very  few  tribes,  and  those  the  most 
obscure  and  difficult  to  observe  of  all  living  things.  A  hun- 
dred years  ago,  naturalists,  and  especially  other  men,  might 
easily  have  been  made  to  believe  that  many  of  the  smaller 
insects  had  a  casual  origin.  But  long  since,  save  in  the  mat- 
ter of  the  acari,  the  entomological  field  has  been  abandoned 
by  the  advocates  of  the  law  hypothesis,  and  they  have  been 
driven  from  one  tribe  after  another,  till  at  length  some  of  the 
obscure  hiding-places  of  the  entozoa  and  infusoria  are  now 
the  only  spots  where  the  light  is  not  too  strong  for  the  large- 
pupiled  eyes  of  this  hypothesis.  Is  not  the  presumption 
hence  arising  very  strong  that  it  will  need  only  a  little  further 
improvement  in  instruments  and  care  in  observation  to  carry 
daylight  into  these  recesses,  and  demonstrate  the  parentage 
and  normal  development  of  all  organic  beings  ? 

Finallij.  The  gross  materialism  inseparable  from  this  hy- 
pothesis is  a  strong  argument  against  if. 


322  CREATION    BY   LAW. 

I  am  not  aware  that  any  one,  except  Oken,  perhaps,  has 
ever  attempted  to  show  that  mind,  as  a  spmtual  essence,  dis- 
tinct from  matter,  has  been  created  by  natural  laws ;  in  other 
words,  that  there  is  in  nature  a  power  to  produce  mind.  All 
such  maintain  that  intellect  is  material,  or,  rather,  the  result 
of  organization,  the  mere  function  of  the  brain,  as  are  also 
life  and  instinct.  Generally,  also,  they  contend  —  and,  in- 
deed, consistency  seems  to  require  it  —  that  the  moral  powers 
depend  chiefly  upon  different  developments  of  the  brain  ;  so 
that  a  disposition  to  do  wrong  results  more  from  organization 
than  from  punishable  mental  obliquity  ;  indeed,  the  worst  of 
criminals  are  often,  on  this  account,  more  to  be  pitied  than 
blamed,  and  the  physician  is  of  more  importance  than  the 
moralist  and  the  divine  for  their  reformation. 

Now,  if  this  system  of  materialism  is  true,  we  ought  to 
embrace  it,  without  any  fear  of  ultimate  bad  effects.  But  a 
philosopher  will  hesitate  long  before  he  adopts  a  system 
which  thus  seems  to  degrade  man  from  his  lofty  standing  as 
a  spiritual,  accountable,  and  immortal  being,  and  makes  his 
intellectual  and  moral  powers  dependent  upon  the  structure 
of  the  brain,  and,  therefore,  destined  to  perish  with  the  mate- 
rial organization,  with  no  hope  of  future  existence,  unless 
God  chooses  to  recreate  the  man.  Nay,  if  there  be  no  dis- 
tinct spirit  in  man,  what  evidence  have  we  that  there  is  one 
in  Jehovah  ?  A  true  philosopher,  I  say,  will  demand  very 
strong  evidence  before  he  adopts  any  hypothesis  that  leads  a 
logical  mind  to  such  conclusions  ;  and  I  see  not  how  the  one 
under  consideration  can  terminate  in  any  thing  else. 

Such  are  the  reasons  that  lead  me  to  reject  the  hypothesis 
of  creation  by  law.  I  have  endeavored  to  treat  the  subject 
in  a  candid  and  philosophical  manner,  not  charging  atheism 
upon  its  advocates  when  they  declare  themselves  Theists  and 


FASHIONABLE    HYPOTHESIS.  323 

Christians.  Neither  have  I  called  in  the  aid  of  ridicule,  as 
might  easily  be  done,  and  as,  in  fact,  has  been  done  by  almost 
every  opponent  of  the  system  who  has  written  upon  it.  I 
have  endeavored  to  show  that  the  hypothesis,  tried  in  the  bal- 
ances of  sound  philosophy,  is  found  wanting ;  because,  in  the 
first  place,  the  facts  adduced  to  sustain  it  are  insufficient ; 
and  secondly,  because,  where  one  fact  seems  to  favor  it,  a 
thousand  testify  against  it.  Is  not  the  conclusion  a  fair  one, 
that  the  hypothesis  has  no  solid  foundation  ?  Is  not  the  evi- 
dence against  it  overwhelming  ?  Yet  it  has  many  advocates, 
and  I  must  think  —  I  hope  not  uncharitably  —  that  these  are 
the  reasons :  First,  because  men  do  not  like  the  idea  of  a 
personal,  present,  overruling  Deity;  and  secondly,  because 
there  is  very  little  profound  and  thorough  knowledge  of  natu- 
ral history  in  the  community.  It  is  just  such  an  hypothesis 
as  chimes  in  with  the  taste  of  that  part  of  the  world  who 
have  a  smattering  of  science,  and  who  do  not  wish  to  live 
without  some  form  of  religion,  but  who  still  desire  to  free 
themselves  from  the  inspection  of  a  holy  God,  and  from  the 
responsibility  which  his  existence  and  presence  would  impose. 
Depend  upon  it,  gentlemen,  you  will  meet  these  delusions  not 
unfrequently  among  the  cultivated  classes  of  society,  where 
they  have  already  done  immense  mischief.  You  will,  indeed, 
find  all  the  eminent  comparative  anatomists  and  physiologists, 
such  as  Cuvier  and  Owen  ;  such  chemists  as  Liebig ;  such 
zoologists  as  Agassiz  and  Edward  Forbes ;  such  botanists  as 
Hooker,  Henslow,  Lindiey,  Torrey,  and  Gray  ;  and  such 
geologists  as  De  la  Beche,  Lyell,  Murchison,  Sedgwick,  D'Or- 
bigny,  Buckland,  and  Miller,  decided  in  their  rejection  of 
these  views.  But  when  even  educated  men  obtain  only  a 
smattering  of  natural  science,  they  find  something  very  fas- 
cinating in  this  hypothesis;  and  this  is  just  the  religion,  or, 


324  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

rather,  the  irreligion,  that  suits  the  superficial,  selfish,  and 
pleasure-seeking  exquisites  of  fashionable  drawing-rooms, 
theatres,  and  watering-places.  You  will  find,  therefore,  the 
need  of  thoroughly  studying  this  subject,  or  you  will  not  be 
able,  as  you  would  wish,  to  vindicate  the  cause  of  true  science 
and  true  religion. 

I  cannot  terminate  this  discussion  without  referring  to  an 
ingenious  analogy,  suggested  by  Hugh  Miller,  in  his  "  Foot- 
prints of  the  Creator,"  and  drawn  from  the  facts  he  had  stated 
respecting  the  degradation  of  species.  No  one  who  has 
thoroughly  studied  Bishop  Butler's  Analogy  of  Natural  and 
Revealed  Religion  to  the  Course  of  Nature  will  venture  to 
say  that  Mr.  Miller's  suggestions  are  mere  fancy.  As  the  ideas 
are  entirely  original  with  him,  I  give  them  in  his  own  words. 

Having  spoken  of  the  several  dynasties  of  animals  that  have 
succeeded  one  another  on  the  globe,  in  a  passage  which  we 
have  already  quoted,  he  says,  "  Passing  on  to  the  revealed 
record,  we  learn  that  the  dynasty  of  man  in  the  mixed  state 
and  character  is  not  the  final  one  ;  but  that  there  is  to  be  yet 
another  creation,  or,  more  properly,  re-creation,  known  theo- 
logically as  the  resurrection,  which  shall  be  connected  in  its 
physical  components,  by  bonds  of  mysterious  paternity,  with 
the  dynasty  which  now  reigns,  and  be  bound  to  it  mentally 
by  the  chain  of  identity,  conscious  and  actual  ;  but  which,  in 
all  that  constitutes  superiority,  shall  be  as  vastly  its  superior 
as  the  dynasty  of  responsible  man  is  superior  to  even  the 
lowest  of  the  preliminary  dynasties.  We  are  further  taught 
that,  at  the  commencement  of  this  last  of  the  dynasties,  there 
will  be  a  re-creation  of  not  only  elevated,  but  also  of  degraded 
beings  —  a  re-creation  of  the  lost.  We  are  taught  yet  fur- 
ther that,  though  the  present  dynasty  be  that  of  a  lapsed  race, 
which  at  their  first  introduction  were  placed  on  higher  ground 


A    FUTURE    ECOxNOMY.  325 

than  that  on  which  they  now  stand,  and  sank  by  then*  own 
act,  it  was  yet  part  of  the  original  design,  from  the  beginning 
of  all  things,  that  they  should  occupy  the  existing  platform  ; 
and  that  redemption  is  thus  no  afterthought,  rendered  neces- 
sary by  the  fall,  but,  on  the  contrary,  part  of  a  general 
scheme,  for  which  provision  had  been  made  from  the  begin- 
ning ;  so  that  the  divine  Man,  through  whom  the  work  of  res- 
toration has  been  effected,  was  in  reality,  in  reference  to  the 
purposes  of  the  Eternal,  what  he  is  designated  in  the  remark- 
able text,  the  Laml)  slain  from  the  foundatio7i  of  the  luorld. 
Slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  !  Could  the  assertors 
of  the  stony  science  ask  for  language  more  express  ?  By 
piecing  the  two  records  together,  —  that  revealed  in  Scripture 
and  that  revealed  in  the  rocks,  —  records  which,  however  wide- 
ly geologists  may  mistake  the  one,  or  commentators  misunder- 
stand the  other,  have  emanated  from  the  same  great  Author, 
—  we  learn  that  in  slow  and  solemn  majesty  has  period  suc- 
ceeded period,  each  in  succession,  ushering  in  a  higher  and 
yet  higher  scene  of  existence  ;  that  fish,  reptiles,  mammif- 
erous  quadrupeds,  have  reigned  in  turn  ;  that  responsible  man, 
'  made  in  the  image  of  God,'  and  with  dominion  over  all 
creatures,  ultimately  entered  into  a  world  ripened  for  his  re- 
ception ;  but,  further,  that  this  passing  scene,  in  which  he 
forms  the  prominent  figure,  is  not  the  final  one  in  the  long 
series,  but  merely  the  last  of  the  j^reliminanj  scenes  ;  and  that 
that  period  to  which  the  by-gone  ages,  incalculable  in  amount, 
with  all  their  well-proportioned  gradations  of  being,  form 
the  imposing  vestibule,  shall  have  perfection  for  its  occupant 
and  eternity  for  its  duration.  I  know  not  how  it  may  appear 
to  others,  but  for  my  own  part  I  cannot  avoid  thinking  that 
there  would  be  a  lack  of  proportion  in  the  series  of  being, 
were  the  period  of  perfect  and  glorified  humanity  abruptly  con- 
28 


326  CREATION    BY    LAW. 

nected,  without  the  introduction  of  an  intermediate  creation  of 
responsible  imperfection  with  that  of  the  dying,  irresponsible 
brute.  That  scene  of  things  in  which  God  became  man,  and 
suffered,  seems^  as  it  no  doubt  is,  a  necessary  link  in  the  chain." 
A  single  concluding  thought  forces  itself  upon  my  mind. 
It  is  this  :  How  ingenious  and  persevering  men  are  in  deluding 
themselves  on  the  subject  of  religion  !  Since  the  time  of 
Christ,  what  countless  devices  have  they  framed  to  escape 
from  the  lofty  truths  and  spiritual  piety  of  his  gospel !  Nor 
are  they  satisfied  with  this  ;  for  the  gospel  has  shed  so  much 
light  upon  the  religion  of  nature,  that  even  this  is  more  than 
men  like ;  and,  therefore,  every  science  is  ransacked  for 
facts  to  neutralize  all  religion.  Men's  consciences  do  not 
permit  them  to  throw  off  all  the  forms  of  religion ;  and, 
therefore,  they  are  satisfied  if  they  can  only  tear  out  its 
heart.  They  like  to  preserve  and  to  embalm  its  external 
covering,  as  the  naturalist  does  the  skin  of  an  animal  for  his 
cabinet.  And  as  the  latter  fills  his  specimen  with  straw  and 
arsenic,  and  fits  glass  eyes  into  it,  so  do  men  fill  up  their 
religious  specimen  with  error  and  vain  speculation,  and  fit 
into  its  head  the  eyes  of  false  philosophy,  and  then  claim  for 
it  intellectual  worship.  It  is  the  business  of  educated  men  to 
show  that  such  caricatures  are  neither  science  nor  religion. 
May  you,  gentlemen,  have  your  full  share  in  this  most  useful 
and  noble  work.* 

*  The  subject  of  this  lecture  has  been  ably  discussed,  within  a  few 
years,  in  most  of  the  leading  periodicals  in  Europe  and  America, 
though  I  must  say  not  always  with  the  candor  calculated  to  do  the 
most  good.  The  two  most  able  volumes  that  have  fallen  into  my 
hands,  on  the  subject,  are  Professor  Sedg-\vick's  "Discourse  on  the 
Studies  of  the  University,"  &c.,  (fifth  ed.,  London,  1850,)  and  Hugh 
MUler's  •'  Footprints  of  the  Creator,"  now  republished  in  this  country. 


(327) 


LECTURE    X. 
SPECIAL  AND   MIRACULOUS   PROVIDENCE. 

Next  in  importance  to  the  question  whether  the  Deity- 
exists,  is  the  inquiry  whether  he  exerts  any  direct  agency  in 
upholding  the  universe  and  in  controlling  its  events.  This 
point  has  been  discussed  in  all  ages  in  which  there  have  been 
philosophers  or  theologians,  and  the  current  of  opinion  has 
faUen  principally  into  three  channels. 

In  the  first  place,  some  have  removed  the  Deity  entirely 
from  his  works  into  a  fancied  extra-mundane  sphere,  where 
in  solitude  he  might  enjoy  the  blessedness  of  his  own  infinite 
nature,  without  the  trouble  of  directing  the  events  of  the  uni- 
verse, or  watching  over  the  works  of  his  hand.  Forgetful 
of  the  great  principle,  that  the  intellectual  powers  produce 
happiness  only  when  called  into  exercise,  they  have  fancied 
that  the  care  of  the  universe  must  be  a  burden  to  its  Creator, 
and  that  it  would  derogate  from  his  dignity.  It  is  supposed, 
therefore,  that  the  world  has  been  given  up  to  the  rule  of  fate 
or  chance. 

In  the  second  place,  a  more  numerous  class  have  main- 
tained that  the  Supreme  Being,  after  creating  the  world,  com- 
mitted its  preservation  and  government  either  to  a  subordinate 
agent,  or  to  the  laws  which  he  impressed  upon  matter  and 
mind,  which  possess  an  inherent  power  to  execute  themselves  ; 
so  that,  in  fact,  God  exercises  no  direct  and  immediate  agency 
in  natural  operations.      The  learned  and  usually  profound 


328        SPECIAL  AND  MIRACULOUS  PROVIDENCE. 

Cud  worth  adopted  the  hypothesis  of  a  plastic  nature,  as  he 
terms  it,  by  which  he  means  a  vital,  spiritual,  and  unintelli- 
gent, yet  subordinate  agent,  by  whoso  agency  the  world  is 
governed  and  its  operations  carried  5n.  At  first  view,  this 
hypothesis  would  seem  to  lead  inevifdbly  to  atheism  ;  but  such 
was  not  the  intention  of  its  author.  Still,  it  is  obviously  so 
clumsy,  that  had  it  not  been  the  product  of  a  great  mind,  it 
never  would  have  received  so  much  notice,  or  called  forth 
such  mighty  efforts  for  its  refutation,  as  have  been  bestowed 
upon  it. 

Two  varieties  of  opinion  exist  among  those  who  believe  the 
world  governed  and  sustained  by  natural  laws,  established  by 
the  Deity.  Some  maintain  that  these  laws  are  general,  not 
particular  ;  not  extending  to  minor  events,  but  only  the  more 
important;  not  providing  for  species,  but  only  for  families. 
Hence  they  suppose  that  these  general  cases  may  interfere 
with  one  another,  and  produce  results  apparently  repugnant 
to  the  intention  of  their  Author,  Others,  shocked  at  the  ab- 
surdity of  such  conclusions,  believe  the  laws  of  nature  to 
extend  to  every  event,  and  never  to  interfere  with  one  another, 
and  always  to  act  in  accordance  with  the  divine  will  and 
appointment,  but  without  any  direct  agency  exerted  by  the 
Deity.  They  suppose  these  laws  —  in  other  words,  secondary 
agencies  —  to  have  the  power  of  producing  all  natural  phe- 
nomena. 

In  the  third  place,  there  are  others  who  believe  that  a  law 
can  have  no  efficiency  without  the  presence  and  agency  of 
the  lawgiver.  They,  therefore,  suppose  every  event  in  the 
natural  world  to  be  the  result  of  the  direct  and  immediate 
agency  of  God.  What  we  call  laws  are  only  the  uniform 
mode  of  his  operation.  They  agree  with  the  advocates  of 
the  last-named   theory  in  supposing   the  laws  of  nature  to 


MIRACULOUS  PROVIDENCE.  329 

extend  to  every  event,  and  to  be  in  accordance  with  the  ordi- 
nation of  the  Deity  ;  but  they  differ  in  maintaining  that  the 
presence  and  direct  efficiency  of  a  lawgiver  are  essential  to 
the  operation  of  natural  laws. 

I  should  then  define  a  Special  Providence  to  be  an  event 
brought  about  apparently  by  natural  laws,  yet,  in  fact,  the 
result  of  a  special  agency,  on  the  part  of  the  Deity,  to  meet  a 
particular  exigency,  either  by  an  original  arrangement  of 
natural  laws,  or  by  a  modification  of  second  causes,  out  of 
sight  at  the  time. 

The  doctrine,  which  supposes  the  Deity  to  exercise  a  super- 
intendence and  direction  over  all  the  affairs  of  the  universe, 
in  any  of  the  modes  that  have  been  mentioned,  whether  by  a 
subordinate  agent,  or  by  laws,  general  or  particular,  with 
inherent  self-executing  power,  or  by  the  direct  efficiency  of 
the  divine  will,  is  called  the  doctrine  of  divine  providence. 
If  the  superintendence  extend  only  to  general  laws,  it  is  called 
a  general  providence.  If  those  laws  reach  every  possible  case, 
it  is  called  a  particular  or  universal  providence. 

By  a  Miraculous  Provide?! ce  is  meant  a  superintendence 
over  the  world  that  interferes,  when  desirable,  with  the  regu- 
lar operations  of  nature,  and  brings  about  events,  either  in 
opposition  to  natural  laws,  or  by  giving  them  a  less  or  greater 
power  than  usual.  In  either  of  these  cases,  the  events 
cannot  be  explained  by  natural  laws ;  they  are  above,  or 
contrary  to,  nature,  and,  therefore,  are  called  miracles,  or 
prodigies. 

There  may  be,  and,  as  I  believe,  there  is,  another  class  of 
occurrences,  intermediate  between  miracles  and  events  strictly 
natural.  These  take  place  in  perfect  accordance  with  the 
natural  laws  within  human  view,  and  appear  to  us  to  be 
perfectly  accounted  for  by  those  laws ;  and  yet,  in  some  way 
28* 


330         SPECIAL  AND  MIRACULOUS  PROVIDENCE. 

or  other,  we  learn  thai  they  required  some  special  exercise 
of  divine  power,  out  of  human  view,  for  their  production. 
Thus,  according  to  the  views  of  most  Christian  denominations, 
conversion  takes  place  in  the  human  heart  in  perfect  accord- 
ance with  the  laws  of  mind,  and  could  be  philosophically- 
explained  by  them  ;  yet  revelation  assures  that  it  is  not  of 
hlood^  [natural  descent,]  nor  of  the  will  of  the  flesh,  7ior  of  the 
taill  of  man ^  hut  of  God.  Divine  power,  therefore,  is  essen- 
tial to  the  change,  although  we  see  only  the  operation  of 
natural  causes.  So  a  storm  may  appear  to  us  to  be  perfectly 
accounted  for  by  natural  laws ;  and  yet  divine  efficiency 
might  have  produced  a  change  in  some  of  those  laws  out  of 
our  sight,  and  thus  meet  a  particular  exigency.  Such  events 
I  call  special  providence  ;  and  I  maintain  that  we  cannot  tell 
how  frequently  they  may  occur. 

It  is  chiefly  the  bearings  of  science,  especially  of  geology, 
upon  the  doctrine  of  miraculous  and  special  providence,  which 
I  wish  to  consider.  But  it  may  form  a  useful  introduction,  to 
state  the  evidence,  which  goes  to  show  that  the  agency  of 
the  Deity,  in  the  ordinary  operations  of  nature,  is  a  direct 
efficiency  ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  the  laws  of  nature  are 
only  the  modes  in  which  divine  agency  operates. 

In  the  first  place,  if  we  suppose  ever  so  many  secondary 
causes  to  be  concerned  in  natural  events,  the  efficiency  must, 
after  all,  be  referred  to  God. 

What  is  a  secondary  cause  ?  or,  in  other  words,  what  is  a 
law  of  nature  considered  as  a  cause  ?  It  is  simply  a  uniform 
mode  of  operation.  We  find  that  heavy  bodies  uniformly 
tend  towards  the  earth's  centre,  and  that  we  call  the  law  of 
gravity;  but  if  those  bodies  sometimes  ascended,  and  some- 
times moved  horizontally,  under  the  same  circumstances,  we 
could  not  infer  the  existence  of  such  a  law. 


CAUSE    FOR    UNIFORMITY.  331 

Now,  there  must  be  some  cause  for  uniformity  of  operation 
in  nature.  There  must  be  some  foreign  power,  which  gives 
the  uniformity,  since  it  is  certain  that  the  law  itself  can  pos- 
sess no  efficiency.  We  may,  indeed,  find  one  law  dependent 
upon  a  second  law,  and  this  upon  a  third,  and  so  on.  But  the 
inquiry  still  arises,  What  gives  the  efficiency  to  this  second 
and  third  law  ?  and  still  the  answer  must  be,  Something  out 
oF  itself.  So  that  if  we  run  back  on  the  chain  of  causes  ever 
so  far,  we  must  still  resort  to  the  power  of  the  Deity  to  find 
any  efficiency  that  will  produce  the  final  result.  In  most 
cases,  we  can  trace  back  only  one  or  two  links  on  the  chain. 
For  instance,  we  account  for  the  falling  of  all  bodies  by  the 
law  of  gravity.  But  philosophers  have  wearied  themselves  in 
vain  to  find  any  cause  for  gravity,  except  in  the  will  of  God. 
The  failure  of  every  other  hypothesis,  though  invented  by 
such  men  as  Newton  and  Le  Sage,  has  been  signal.  Sound 
philosophy,  then,  requires  us  to  infer  that  gravity  owes  its 
efficiency  to  the  direct  exertion  of  divine  power.  And  so  in 
all  cases,  when  we  can  no  longer  discover  second  causes  for 
any  phenomenon,  why  should  we  imagine  their  existence, 
rather  than  refer  it  to  the  agency  of  God  ?  For  go  back  as 
far  as  we  may,  and  discover  a  thousand  intervening  causes, 
the  efficiency  resides  alone  in  God.  We  have  no  evidence 
that  even  infinite  power  can  communicate  that  efficiency  to 
the  laws  of  nature,  so  that  they  can  act  without  the  presence 
and  agency  of  God.  The  common  idea,  which  endows  those 
laws  with  independent  power,  will  not  bear  examination. 

In  the  second  place,  if  natural  operations  do  not  depend 
upon  the  exercise  of  divine  power,  no  other  efficient  cause 
can  be  assigned  for  their  production. 

We  have  seen  that  in  the  laws  of  nature,  independently  of 
the  Deity,  there  is  no  efficiency  ;  and  I  know  not  where  else 


332  SPECIAL    AND    MIRACULOUS    PROVIDENCE. 

we  can  resort  for  any  agency  to  carry  forward  the  operations 
of  nature,  except  to  the  same  infinite  Being.  The  fate  and 
chance  of  the  ancients,  the  plastic  nature  of  Cudvvorth,  the 
delegated  nature  of  Lamarck,  are  indeed  names  invented  by 
men  to  designate  a  certain  imaginary  efficiency  residing  some- 
where, independent  of  the  Deity,  by  which  the  phenomena 
of  nature  have  been  supposed  to  be  produced.  But  the  mo- 
ment they  are  described,  they  are  found  to  be  mere  imaginary 
agencies,  meaning  nothing  more  than  the  course  of  nature, 
or  the  laws  of  nature,  which  we  have  seen  possess  no  inde- 
pendent efficiency.  To  a  divine  agency,  therefore,  we  must 
resort,  or  be  left  without  any  adequate  cause  for  the  compli- 
cated and  wonderful  processes  of  nature. 

In  the  third  place,  this  view  of  the  subject  is  strongly  con- 
firmed by  the  Christian  Scriptures. 

How  universal  is  the  divine  agency  represented  in  the  well- 
known  passage  — for  ofJiim^  and  through  him^  and  to  him^  are 
all  things.  Equally  vivid  is  Paul's  statement  on  Mars  Hill  — 
In  him  ice  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  heing.  How  graphic 
a  description  is  the  147th  Psalm  of  God's  agency  in  the  nat- 
ural world  !  Not  only  is  all  good  ascribed  to  God,  but  evil 
also.  By  the  mouth  of  Isaiah  he  says,  I  form  light  and  create 
darkness ;  I  make  jjeace  and  create  evil ;  I  the  Lord  do  all 
these  things.  In  short,  no  event  in  the  material  or  spiritual 
world  is  by  the  sacred  writers  ascribed  to  chance,  or  to  nature, 
or  the  laws  of  nature,  as  it  is  among  men  ;  but  to  the  direct 
efficiency  of  God.  Nor  is  there  any  difference  in  this  respect 
between  miracles  and  common  events.  The  one  class  is  rep- 
resented as  originating  in  the  agency  of  God,  just  as  much  as 
the  other. 

Finally.  It  will  hardly  be  thought  strange,  in  view  of  the 
preceding  considerations,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  most 


OPINIONS    OF    EMINENT    MEN.  333 

acute  and  philosophical  minds  in  modern  times  have  preferred 
this  view  of  divine  providence  to  any  other. 

Sir  Isaac  Newton  declares  that  the  various  parts  of  the 
world,  organic  and  inorganic,  "  can  be  the  effect  of  nothing 
else  than  the  wisdom  and  skill  of  a  powerful,  ever-living 
Agent,  who,  being  in  all  places,  is  more  able  by  his  will  to 
move  the  bodies  within  his  boundless,  uniform  sensorium, 
thereby  to  form  and  reform  the  parts  of  the  universe,  than 
we  are  by  our  will  to  move  the  parts  of  our  own  bodies.'" 

Says  Dr.  Clarke,  the  friend  and  disciple  of  Newton,  "  All 
things  which  we  commonly  say  are  the  effects  of  the  natural 
powers  of  matter,  and  laws  of  motion,  are,  indeed,  if  we  will 
speak  strictly  and  properly,  the  effects  of  God's  action  upon 
matter  continually,  and  at  every  moment,  either  immediately 
by  himself,  or  mediately  by  some  created,  intelligent  being. 
Consequently  there  is  no  such  thing  as  the  course  of  nature, 
or  the  power  of  nature,  independent  of  the  effects  produced 
by  the  will  of  God." 

In  speaking  of  the  principle  of  vegetable  life,  Sir  James 
Edward  Smith,  the  eminent  botanist,  says,  "  I  humbly  con- 
ceive that,  if  the  human  understanding  can  in  any  case  flatter 
itself  with  obtaining,  in  the  natural  world,  a  glimpse  of  the 
immediate  agency  of  the  Deity,  it  is  in  the  contemplation  of 
this  vital  principle^  which  seems  independent  of  material  or- 
ganization, and  an  impulse  of  his  own  divine  energy."  —  J/i- 
troduction  to  Botany^  p.  26,  (Boston  edition.) 

"  We  would  no  v/ay  be  understood,"  says  Sir  John  Her- 
schel,  "  to  deny  the  constant  exercise  of  this  [God's]  direct 
power  in  maintaining  the  system  of  nature,  or  the  ultimate 
emanation  of  every  energ}^,  which  material  agents  exert,  from 
his  immediate  will,  acting  in  conformity  with  his  own  laws." 
—  Discourse  on  Nat.  Philosophy. 


334  SPECIAL   AND    MIRACULOUS    PROVIDENCE. 

"  A  law,"  says  Professor  Whewell,  "  supposes  an  agent 
and  a  power  ;  for  it  is  the  mode  according  to  which  the  agent 
proceeds,  the  order  according  to  which  the  power  acts. 
AVithout  the  presence  of  such  an  agent,  of  such  a  power, 
conscious  of  the  relations  on  which  the  law  depends,  pro- 
ducing the  effects  which  the  law  prescribes,  the  law  can  have 
no  efRciency,  no  existence.  Hence  we  infer  that  the  intelli- 
gence by  which  the  law  is  ordained,  the  power  by  which  it  is 
put  in  action,  must  be  present  at  all  times  and  in  all  places 
where  the  effects  of  the  law  occur;  that  thus  the  knowledge 
and  the  agency  of  the  divine  Being  pervades  every  portion 
of  the  universe,  producing  all  action  and  passion,  all  perma- 
nence and  change.  The  laws  of  nature  are  the  laws  which 
He,  in  his  wisdom,  prescribes  to  his  own  acts  ;  his  universal 
presence  is  the  necessary  condition  of  any  course  of  events  ; 
his  universal  agency  the  only  origin  of  any  efficient  force." 
—  Bridgewater  Treatise,  p.  270. 

"  The  student  in  natural  philosophy,"  observes  the  Bishop 
of  London,  "  will  find  rest  from  all  those  perplexities,  which 
are  occasioned  by  the  obscurity  of  causation,  in  the  proposi- 
tion which,  although  it  was  discredited  by  the  patronage  of 
Malebranche  and  the  Cartesians,  has  been  adopted  by  Clarke 
and  Dugald  Stewart,  and  which  is  by  far  the  most  simple  and 
sublime  account  of  the  matter  —  that  all  events  which  are 
continually  taking  place  in  the  different  parts  of  the  material 
universe  are  the  immediate  efTects  of  the  divine  agency."  — 
WhewelVs  Bridgewater  Treatise,  p.  273. 

"  Jonathan  Edwards,"  says  M'Cosh  in  his  Method  of  the 
Divine  Government,  "  somewhere  illustrates  the  manner  in 
which  God  upholds  the  universe,  by  the  way  in  which  an 
image  is  upheld  in  a  mirror.  That  image  is  maintained  by  a 
continual   flow  of  rays  of  light,  each  succeeding  pencil  of 


PRACTICAL    TENDENCY.  335 

which  does  not  differ  from  that  by  which  the  image  was  first 
produced.  He  conceives  that  the  universe  is,  in  every  part 
of  it,  supported  in  a  similar  way  by  a  continual  succession 
of  acts  of  the  divine  will,  and  these  not  differing  from  that 
which  at  first  caused  the  world  to  spring  into  existence.  Now, 
it  may  be  safely  said  of  this  theory  that  it  cannot  be  dis- 
proved. Several  considerations  may  be  urged  in  support 
of  it." 

Which  of  the  views  respecting  divine  providence  that  have 
been  stated  has  the  best  practical  tendency,  seems  hardly  to 
admit  of  doubt.  If  we  believe  that  God  has  submitted  the 
direction  and  government  of  this  world  to  a  subordinate 
agent,  a  plastic  nature  ;  or  if  we  suppose  he  has  impressed 
matter  and  mind  with  certain  general  laws,  which  have  the 
power  of  executing  themselves  without  his  agency,  and 
especially  if  in  their  operation  they  do  sometimes  actually 
clash  with  one  another,  or  even  if  those  laws  extend  to  every 
movement  of  matter  and  mind, —  still,  if  they  do  not  require 
divine  efficiency,  men  cannot  but  feel  that  God  is  removed 
from  his  works,  and  that  the  laws  of  nature,  and  not  his 
agency,  are  their  security.  But  if  they  believe  that  every 
movement  of  matter  or  mind  inquires  a  direct  exercise  of  di- 
vine power  or  efficiency,  just  as  much  as  if  every  event  was 
a  miracle,  it  cannot  but  bring  God  near  to  us,  and  make  us 
realize  his  presence. 

If  we  obtain  a  timepiece  from  London  or  Paris,  which 
contains  all  the  springs  and  wheels  requisite  to  keep  it  in  op- 
eration, by  occasionally  winding  it  up,  how  little  do  we  think 
of  the  artist  who  constructed  it,  except,  perhaps,  occasionally 
to  admire  his  ingenuity  !  But  if  it  had  been  necessary  for 
that  artist  to  accompany  the  chronometer,  and  actually  to  put 
forth  the  strength  of  his  own  arm  every  moment  to  keep  it  in 


336  SPECIAL    AND    MIRACULOUS    PROVIDENCE. 

motion,  how  much  more  should  we  think  of  him  and  realize 
his  presence  !  The  same  effect,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree, 
will  attend  the  belief  that  God  must  be  not  only  virtually, 
but  substantially,  present  every  where,  and  be  constantly  ex- 
ercising his  power  to  keep  in  operation  the  vast  machine  of 
the  universe.  It  cannot  but  deeply  impress  the  heart,  and 
exert  a  most  salutary  influence  upon  the  affections,  to  realize 
that  every  event  around  us  is  brought  about  by  the  immediate 
agency  of  the  supreme  Being. 

But  notwithstanding  the  salutary  influence  of  this  view  of 
Providence  upon  our  moral  feelings,  and  though  philosophy 
pronounces  it  decidedly  the  most  reasonable,  still  it  meets 
with  strong  opposition.  I  need  not  stop  to  notice  the  objec- 
tions, that  it  makes  God  the  author  of  evil  as  well  as  good, 
and  that  it  represents  man  as  a  mere  machine  in  the  hands 
of  the  Deity,  and  therefore  takes  away  human  responsibility. 
I  say  I  need  not  stop  to  answer  such  objections,  because  they 
lie  equally  strong  against  any  system  which  makes  God  the 
original  author  of  the  universe.  But  a  more  plausible  objec- 
tion is,  that  it  makes  all  events  miraculous.  This  objection  is 
based  on  the  supposition  that  every  event  which  takes  place 
through  the  direct  and  immediate  agency  of  God  is  a  miracle. 
But  is  this  the  true  meaning  of  a  miracle  ?  Is  the  term  ever 
applied  to  any  but  extraordinary  events  ?  It  may  or  it  may 
not  imply  a  contravention  of  the  laws  of  nature.  But  it  does 
always  imply  something  which  the  laws  of  nature  cannot  pro- 
duce, and  which,  of  course,  they  cannot  explain.  It  is 
always  the  result  of  some  new  force  coming  in  to  the  aid  of 
the  laws  of  nature,  or  in  the  place  of  them,  or  even  some- 
times, perhaps,  in  opposition  to  them  ;  as  when  the  sun  stood 
still  upon  Gibeon^  and  the  moon  in  the  valley  of  Ajalon. 
Hence  an  event  may  take  place  through  the  direct  and  imme- 


EVIDENCE    FROM    GEOLOGY.  337 

diate  agency  of  God,  and  yet  not  be  a  miracle.  If  it  be 
neither  above,  nor  independent  of,  nor  in  opposition  to  the 
laws  of  nature,  then  it  forms  a  part  of  the  ordinary  provi- 
dence of  God  ;  it  is  a  part  of  the  usual,  the  fixed  and  uniform 
course  of  nature,  and  can  be  explained  by  known  and  unal- 
terable laws.  The  nature  of  the  event  is  not  affected  at  all 
by  the  question  whether  it  is  produced  by  the  direct  efficiency 
of  God,  or  by  a  power  inherent  in  those  laws.  We,  who  be- 
lieve that  the  direct  efficiency  of  God  is  necessary  to  the 
operation,  and  even  to  the  existence,  of  the  laws  of  nature, 
are  just  as  firm  believers  in  the  constanc)'"  of  those  laws  as  he 
who  supposes  them  possessed  of  inherent  powers.  When 
that  constancy  is  interrupted  in  any  way,  we  call  it  a  mir- 
acle. Hence  it  appears  that  our  views  of  the  nature  of  a 
miracle  are  the  same  as  his,  viz.,  an  event  which  takes  place 
out  of  the  ordinary  course  of  nature  ;  and,  therefore,  our 
system  is  no  more  liable  to  the  objection  that  all  events  are 
made  miracles  than  his  system. 

The  w^ay  is  now  prepared  for  inquiring  what  geology 
teaches  respecting  the  ordinary  and  extraordinary  providence 
of  God  over  this  world. 

The  evidences  of  ordinary  providence,  which  are  common 
to  geology  and  other  sources  of  proof,  I  shall  pass  by  ;  both 
because  they  are  familiar  to  all,  and  because  I  have,  in  a  for- 
mer lecture,  shown  the  existence  and  operation  of  the  present 
laws  of  nature  in  all  past  ages.  But  there  is  one  feature  of 
the  past  condition  of  the  world  taught  by  geology  to  which  I 
would  call  your  attention,  as  exhibiting  a  more  impressive 
view  of  the  wisdom  and  skill  of  ordinary  providence  than 
almost  any  other  department  of  nature  presents.  When  the 
heavenly  bodies  are  once  put  under  the  control  of  the  two 
great  forces  that  guide  them,  viz.,  the  centrifugal  and  cen- 
29 


338  SPECIAL   AND    MIRACULOUS   PROVIDENCE. 

tripetal,  we  see  no  reason  why  they  may  not  move  on  forever 
in  their  accustomed  paths.  But  the  two  great  agents  of  geo- 
logical change,  fire  and  water,  have  an  aspect  of  great  irreg- 
ularity and  violence,  and  are  apparently  less  under  the  control 
of  mathematical  laws.  In  the  mighty  intensity  of  their 
action  in  early  times,  we  can  hardly  see  how  there  could 
have  been  much  of  security  or  permanence  in  the  state  of  the 
globe,  without  the  constant  restraining  energy  of  Jehovah. 
We  feel  as  if  the  earth's  crust  must  have  been  constantly 
liable  to  be  torn  in  pieces  by  volcanic  fires,  or  drenched  by 
sweeping  deluges.  And  yet  the  various  economies  of  life  on 
the  globe,  that  have  preceded  the  present,  have  all  been  sea- 
sons of  profound  repose  and  uniformity.  The  truth  is,  these 
mighty  agencies  have  been  just  as  much  under  the  divine 
control  as  those  which  regulate  the  heavenly  bodies ;  and  I 
doubt^not  but  the  laws  that  regulate  their  action  are  as  fixed 
and  mathematical  as  those  which  guide  the  sun,  moon, 
and  planets.  Still,  it  must  have  required  infinite  wisdom  and 
power  so  to  arrange  the  agencies  of  nature  that  the  desolating 
action  of  fire  and  water  should  take  place  only  at  those 
epochs  when  every  thing  was  in  readiness  for  the  ruin  of  an 
old  economy  and  the  introduction  of  a  new  one.  Geological 
agencies  diflfer  from  astronomical  in  this  —  that  the  former 
must  be  allowed  an  irregular  action  within  certain  limits; 
whereas  the  latter  act  with  unvarying  uniformity  in  all  cir- 
cumstances. If  the  former  had  not  some  room  for  irregular 
action,  they  would  not  act  at  all ;  but  if  allowed  too  much 
liberty,  they  will  destroy  what  they  were  intended  to  pre- 
serve. And  God  does  restrain,  and  always  has  restrained 
them,  just  at  the  point  where  desolation  would  be  the  result 
of  their  more  powerful  operation.  I  do  not,  indeed,  contend 
that  it  requires  more  power  or  wisdom  to  bind  those  mighty 


MIRACULOUS  PROVIDENCE.  339 

agencies  within  proper  limits  than  to  control  the  heavenly- 
bodies.  But  to  our  limited  faculties  it  certainly  seems  a  more 
difficult  work;  and,  therefore,  the  geological  history  of  the 
globe  gives  us  a  more  impressive  idea  of  the  ordinary  provi- 
dence of  God  than  we  see  in  the  calm  and  uniform  movements 
of  nature  around  us. 

In  the  second  place,  geology  furnishes  us  with  some  very 
striking  examples  of  miraculous  providence. 

In  disproving  the  eternity  of  the  organic  world,  in  a  former 
lecture,  I  adduced  and  illustrated  these  examples  so  fully,  that 
I  shall  do  little  more  in  this  place  than  give  a  recapitulation 
of  that  argument. 

If  we  suppose  the  earth  originally  to  have  been  merely  a 
diffused  mass  of  vapor,  like  comets,  or  nebulae,  I  can  conceive 
how,  by  the  operation  of  such  natural  laws  as  now  exist,  it 
might  have  been  condensed  into  a  solid  globe ;  into  a  melted 
state,  indeed,  from  the  amount  of  heat  extricated  in  the  con- 
densation. Those  same  laws  might  subsequently  form  over 
the  molten  mass  a  solid  crust,  which,  at  length,  might  be 
ridged  and  furrowed  by  the  action  of  internal  heat,  so  as  to 
form  the  basis  of  continents  and  the  beds  of  oceans.  In  due 
time,  the  vapors  might  condense,  so  as  to  fill  those  basins 
with  water;  and,  by  the  mutual  and  alternate  action  of  the 
waters  above  and  the  heat  beneath,  the  rocks  might  be  com- 
minuted, so  as  to  form  the  basis  of  soils.  So  far  might  the 
arrangements  of  the  world  have  proceeded  by  natural  laws  ; 
in  other  words,  by  the  ordinary  providence  of  God.  But  at 
this  point  we  must  bring  in  an  extraordinary  agency  of  the 
Deity,  or  the  world  would  have  remained,  in  the  expressive 
language  of  revelation,  loithout  form  and  void ;  that  is,  invis- 
ible and  unfurnished.  You  have,  indeed,  the  framework  of  a 
world,  but  the  most  difficult  and  complicated  part  of  the  work, 


340  SPECIAL    AND    MIRACULOUS    PROVIDENCE. 

the  creation  of  plants  and  animals,  remains  yet  to  be  per- 
formed. Here,  then,  is  the  precise  point  where  you  must 
call  in  the  miraculous  agency  of  the  Deity,  or  the  earth  would 
forever  remain  an  uninhabited  waste.  For  if  it  does  not 
require  miraculous  agency  to  bring  into  existence  animals 
and  plants,  I  know  not  what  can  require  it,  or  prove  its  oper- 
ation. I  can  almost  as  easily  conceive  how  matter  might 
spring  from  nothing  fortuitously,  certainly  I  can  as  easily 
conceive  of  its  eternity,  as  that  organism  and  life  can  result 
from  the  ordinary  laws  of  nature. 

It  may  be,  however,  that  I  shall  here  be  met  by  the  state- 
ment, that  some  distinguished  geologists  maintain  the  probable 
existence  of  organized  beings  on  the  globe  at  an  indefinitely 
earlier  period  than  that  in  which  their  remains  first  appear  in 
the  rocks.  They  contend  that  the  extreme  heat  which  has 
melted  the  older  rocks  has  obliterated  all  traces  of  organic 
existence  below  a  certain  line.  Now,  in  order  to  meet  this 
difficulty, .it  is  not  necessary  to  show  this  opinion  to  be  errone- 
ous. We  have  only  to  advance  another  step  in  our  general 
argument,  which  brings  us  upon  ground  admitted  to  be  good 
by  the  geologists  above  alluded  to.  They  all  of  them  believe 
that  many  new  animals  and  plants  have  from  time  to  time 
appeared  on  the  globe ;  that,  in  fact,  there  have  been  several 
almost  entire  changes  in  its  inhabitants.  Most  of  them  sup- 
pose these  new  races  to  have  been  introduced  in  large  num- 
bers at  particular  epochs,  though  some  prefer  the  theory 
which  supposes  the  new  species  to  have  been  introduced  one 
by  one,  as  the  old  ones  became  extinct.  But  even  this  sup- 
position does  not  essentially  affect  my  argument ;  because 
they  all  allow  that  these  successive  species  were  really  new, 
and  could  not  have  been  the  result  of  any  metamorphosis  of 
the  old  species.     And  it  is  the  fact  that  new  organic  beings 


MAN  RECENTLY  CREATED.  341 

have,  from  time  to  time,  been  created,  that  is  alone  essential 
to  my  argument.  Whether  they  were  created  by  groups  or 
singly,  is  an  interesting  geological  question  ;  but,  in  either 
case,  miraculous  power  must  have  been  put  forth  as  really 
and  as  efficiently  to  call  into  existence  a  single  new  species 
of  animalcula,  or  sea- weed,  as  to  introduce  an  entirely  new 
race.  The  successive  economies  of  organic  life  that  have 
existed  on  the  earth,  and  passed  from  it,  do  most  unequivo- 
cally demonstrate  the  extraordinary  or  miraculous  providence 
of  God. 

But  we  might  abandon  even  this  strong  ground  of  our 
argument,  and  still  geology  would  afford  us  a  most  unequivo- 
cal example  of  the  creative  agency  of  the  Deity.  That 
science  shows,  beyond  all  question,  that  man,  and  most  of  his 
contemporary  races  of  animals  and  plants,  have  not  always 
occupied  this  globe  ;  and,  indeed,  that  they  were  not  placed 
upon  it  till  nearly  every  form  buried  in  the  rocks  had  passed 
away.  And  since  those  races  which  now  inhabit  the  globe 
have  among  them  a  larger  proportion  of  highly  organized  and 
more  complicated  species  than  have  ever  before  been  con- 
temporaries,—  especially  since  man  is  among  them,  confess- 
edly the  most  perfect  in  organization  and  in  intellect  of  all 
the  beings  that  ever  occupied  this  planet,  —  we  can  here  point 
to  the  highest  exercise  of  creative  power  ever  exhibited  in 
this  lower  world,  as  a  certain  memento  of  God's  extraordi- 
nary or  miraculous  providence.  Indeed,  who,  that  has  any 
adequate  idea  of  the  wonders  of  man's  intellectual,  moral, 
and  immortal  nature,  and  of  the  strange  extremes  that  meet 
and  harmonize  in  his  physical  and  intellectual  constitution, 
will  believe  that  any  loftier  miracle  has  ever  been  exhibited 
on  this  globe  than  his  creation  ? 

But  I  have  already  dwelt  so  long  upon  this  whole  argu- 
29* 


342        SPECIAL  AND  MIRACULOUS  PROVIDENCE. 

ment  in  a  former  lecture,  that  I  will  add  no  more  in  this  place. 
If  the  facts  which  1  have  sfeted  do  not  prove  the  miracu- 
lous agency  of  the  Deity  in  past  ages,  I  know  not  how  it  can 
be  proved.  But  assuming  this  position  to  be  established,  and 
several  inferences  of  importance  will  follow. 

In  the  first  place,  this  subject  removes  all  philosophical 
presumption  against  a  special  revelation  from  heaven. 

If  we  can  prove  that  the  Deity  has  often  so  interfered  with 
the  course  of  nature  as  to  introduce  new  species,  nay,  whole 
races  of  animals  and  plants  upon  the  globe,  —  if,  in  a  compar- 
atively recent  period,  he  has  created  a  moral  and  immortal 
being,  endowed  with  all  the  powers  of  a  free  and  an  account- 
able agent,  —  it  would  surely  be  no  more  wonderful  if  he  should 
communicate  to  that  being  his  will  by  a  written  revelation. 
Indeed,  the  benevolence  of  the  Deity,  as  we  learn  it  from 
nature,  would  create  a  presumption  that  such  a  revelation 
would  be  given,  if  it  appear,  as  we  know  it  does,  that  no  suffi- 
cient knowledge  is  inherent  in  his  nature  to  guide  him  in  the 
path  of  duty  ;  since  such  a  revelation  would  be  no  greater 
miracle  than  to  people  the  world,  originally  destitute  of  life, 
and  then  to  repeople  it  again  and  again,  with  so  vast  a  variety 
of  organic  natures.  Philosophy  has  sometimes  been  disin- 
clined to  admit  the  claims  of  revelation,  because  it  implies  a 
supernatural  agency  of  the  Deity;  and,  until  recently,  reve- 
lation seemed  to  be  a  solitary  example  of  special  interference 
on  the  part  of  Jehovah.  But  geology  adds  other  examples, 
long  anterior  to  revelation  —  examples  registered,  like  the  laws 
of  Sinai,  on  tables  of  stone.  And  the  admission  of  the  geo- 
logical evidence  of  special  interference  with  the  regular 
sequence  of  nature's  operations  ought  to  predispose  the  mind 
for  listening  to  the  appropriate  proofs  of  a  moral  communi- 
cation to  ignorant  and  erring  man. 


MIRACLES    AGREEABLE    TO    EXPERIENCE.  343 

In  the  second  place,  the  subject  shoics  us  how  groundless  is 
the  famous  objection  to  the  miracles  recorded  in  Scrij^ture^ 
founded  on  the  position  that  they  are  contrary  to  experierice. 

"  It  is,"  says  Mr.  Hume,  "  a  maxim  worthy  of  our  atten- 
tion, that  no  testimony  is  sufficient  to  establish  a  miracle, 
unless  the  testimony  be  of  such  a  kind,  that  its  falsehood 
would  be  more  miraculous  than  the  fact  which  it  endeavors 
to  establish."  Hence  he  asserts,  that  "  the  evidence  of  tes- 
timony, when  applied  to  a  miracle,  carries  falsehood  on  the 
very  face  of  it,  and  is  more  properly  a  subject  of  derision 
than  of  argument,  "  and  that  whoever  believes  the  Christian 
religion  is  conscious  of  a  continued  miracle  in  his  own  person, 
which  subverts  all  the  principles  of  his  understanding,  and 
gives  him  a  determination  to  believe  what  is  most  contrary 
to  custom  and  experience." 

At  the  time  when  Mr.  Hume  wrote,  and  with  his  great  skill 
in  weaving  together  metaphysical  subtilties,  such  an  argu- 
ment might  deceive  superficial  minds  ;  for  then  a  miracle  was 
supposed  to  be  contrary  to  all  experience.  But  geology  has 
disclosed  many  new  chapters  in  the  world's  history,  and  shown 
the  existence  of  miracles  earlier  than  chronological  dates. 
Even  Mr.  Hume  would  hardly  deny  that  the  creation  of 
whole  series  of  animals  and  plants  was  miraculous  ;  and  yet, 
in  proof  of  that  creation,  we  need  not  depend  upon  testimony  ; 
for  we  can  read  it  with  our  own  eyes  upon  the  solid  rocks. 
Such  proof  appeals  directly  to  our  common  sense  ;  nor  can  any 
ingenious  quibble,  concerning  the  nature  of  human  testimony, 
weaken  its  influence  in  producing  conviction. 

And  if  God  has  wrought  stupendous  miracles  of  creation  in 
order  to  people  the  world,  who  does  not  see  that  it  is  still  more 
probable  he  would  perform  other  miracles  when  they  were 
needed  to  substantiate  a  revelation  of  his  will  to  those  moral 


344        SPECIAL  AND  MIRACULOUS  PROVIDENCE. 

and  accountable  beings,  who  needed  its  special  teachings  to 
make  them  acquainted  with  their  God,  their  duty,  and  their 
destiny  ? 

Finally.  The  subject  removes  all  presumption  against  the 
exercise  of  a  special  and  miraculous  providence  in  the  divine 
government  of  the  world. 

In  all  ages  of  the  world,  philosophers,  and  even  many  theolo- 
gians, have  been  strenuous  opposers  of  special  and  miraculous 
providence.  If  they  have  admitted,  as  most  of  the  latter  class 
have  done,  that  some  miracles  were  performed  in  ancient 
times,  they  have  strenuously  maintained  that  the  doctrine  of 
special  providence  in  these  days  is  absurd,  and  that  God  can- 
not, without  a  miracle,  bestow  any  special  favors  upon  the 
virtuous  in  answer  to  their  prayers,  or  inflict  any  special  pun- 
ishments upon  the  wicked  ;  and  that  it  is  fanaticism  to  expect 
any  other  retributions  than  such  as  the  ordinary  and  unmodi- 
fied course  of  nature  brings  along  with  it. 

The  unvarying  constancy  of  nature,  in  consequence  of 
being  governed  by  fixed  laws,  is  the  grand  argument  which 
they  adduce  in  opposition  to  any  supposed  special  providence. 
Since  the  fathers  fell  asleep^  say  they,  all  things  continue  as 
they  ivere  from  the  beginning.  God  has  subjected  the  world 
to  the  government  of  laws,  and  he  will  not  interfere  with, 
counteract,  set  aside,  or  give  a  supernatural  force  to  those 
laws,  to  meet  particular  exigencies.  For  the  adjustment  of  all 
apparent  inequalities  of  good  and  evil,  suffering  and  enjoy- 
ment here,  we  must  wait  for  the  disclosure  of  eternity,  when 
strict  retributive  Justice  will  hold  her  even  scales.  When 
natural  evils  come  upon  us,  therefore,  it  is  idle  to  expect  their 
removal,  except  so  far  as  they  may  be  mitigated  or  overcome 
by  natural  means  ;  and  hence  it  is  useless  to  pray  for  their 
removal,  or  to  expect  God  will  deliver  us  from  them  in  any 


SPECIAL    PROTECTION.  345 

other  way.  When  the  heavens  over  us  become  brass,  and 
the  earth  under  our  feet  iron,  and  the  rain  of  our  land  is  pow- 
der and  dust,  and  want,  and  famine,  as  the  consequence,  stalk 
forth  among  the  inhabitants,  of  what  use  to  pray  to  God  for 
rain,  since  to  give  it  would  require  a  miracle,  and  the  age  of 
miracles  has  passed  ?  When  the  pestilence  is  scouring  through 
the  land,  and  our  neighbors  and  nearest  friends  are  within  its 
grasp,  and  v/e  may  ne.xt  become  its  victims,  —  nay,  when  we, 
too,  are  on  the  borders  of  the  grave,  —  why  should  we  expect 
relief  by  prayer,  since  sickness  is  the  result  of  natural  causes, 
and  Gud  will  not  interpose  to  save  us  from  the  effects  of  nat- 
ural evils,  because  that  would  be  contrary  to  a  fixed  rule  of 
his  government  ?  When  dangers  cluster  around  the  good  man 
in  the  discharge  of  trying  duties,  it  would  be  enthusiasm  in 
him  to  expect  any  special  protection  against  his  enemies, 
though  he  pray  ever  so  fervently,  and  trust  in  divine  deliver- 
ance with  ever  so  much  confidence.  He  must  look  to  another 
world  for  his  reward,  if  called  to  suffer  here.  Nor  has  the 
daringly  wicked  man  any  reason  to  fear  that  God  will  punish 
his  violations  of  the  divine  law  by  any  unusual  display  of  his 
power  ;  not  in  any  way,  indeed,  but  by  the  evils  which  natu- 
rally flow  from  a  wicked  life.  In  short,  it  will  be  useless  to 
pray  for  any  blessing  that  requires  the  least  interference  with 
natural  laws,  or  for  the  removal  of  any  evil  which  depends 
upon  those  lav/s.  And  since  our  mincfs  are  controlled  as 
much  by  laws  as  the  functions  of  our  bodies,  v/e  are  not  to 
expect  any  blessings  in  our  souls,  which  require  the  least 
infringement  of  intellectual  laws.  In  fine,  the  effect  of  prayer 
is  limited  almost  entirely  to  its  influence  upon  our  own  hearts, 
in  preparing  them  to  receive  with  a  proper  spirit  natural  bless- 
ings, and  to  bear  aright  natural  evils  ;  to  stimulate  us  to  use 


346  SPECIAL    AND    MIRACULOUS    PROVIDENCE. 

with  more  diligence  the  means  of  avoiding  or  removing  the 
latter,  and  securing  the  former. 

Not  a  few  philosophers  of  distinction,  and  some  theologians, 
have  adopted  these  views.  Even  Dr.  Thomas  Brown  uses 
the  following  language  :  "  It  is  quite  evident  that  even  Omnip- 
otence, which  cannot  do  what  is  contradictory,  cannot  com- 
bine both  advantages  —  the  advantage  of  regular  order  in  the 
sequences  of  nature,  and  the  advantages  of  a  uniform  adap- 
tation of  the  particular  circumstances  of  the  individual.  We 
may  take  our  choice,  but  we  cannot  think  of  a  combination 
of  both ;  and  if,  as  is  very  obvious,  the  greater  advantage  be  that 
of  uniformity  of  operation,  we  must  not  complain  of  the  evils 
to  which  that  very  uniformity  which  we  cannot  fail  to  pre- 
fer—  if  the  option  had  been  allowed  us  —  has  been  the  very 
circumstance  that  gave  rise."  —  Lecture  94. 

"  Science,"  says  George  Combe,  "  has  banished  from  the 
minds  of  profound  thinkers  belief  in  the  exercise  by  the  Deity, 
in  our  day,  of  special  acts  of  supernatural  power,  as  a  means 
of  influencing  human  affairs  ;  and  it  has  presented  a  system- 
atic order  of  nature,  which  man  may  study,  comprehend, 
and  follow,  as  a  guide  to  his  practical  conduct.  Many  edu- 
cated laymen,  and  also  a  number  of  the  clergy,  have  declined 
to  recognize  fasts,  humiliations,  and  prayers,  as  means  adapted, 
according  to  their  views,  to  avert  the  recurrence  of  the  evil, 
[the  potato  blight.]  '  Indeed,  these  observances,  inasmuch  as 
they  mislead  the  public  mind  with  respect  to  its  causes,  are 
regarded  by  such  persons  as  positive  evils." 

"  The  most  irreligious  of  all  religious  notions,  as  it  seems 
to  us,"  says  the  North  American  Review,  "  is  a  belief  in  special 
providences  ;  for  if  the  doctrine  has  any  weight  at  all,  it  is 
gained  at  the  expense  of  a  general  providence.     To  assume  to 


SPECIAL  PROVIDENCE  OPPOSED.  347 

detect  God  as  nearer  to  us  on  some  occasions  is  to  put  him 
fartiier  off  from  us  on  other  occasions.  To  have  him  in  special 
incidents  is  to  forget  him  in  the  common  tenor  of  events. 
The  doctrine  of  special  providences  evidently  has  no  other 
foundation  than  this,  that  men  think  they  can  detect  God's 
purpose  and  presence  more  signally  in  some  incidents  than 
in  others  ;  so  that  the  doctrine,  after  all,  is  only  a  compli- 
ment to  man's  power  of  detection,  instead  of  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  God's  special  presence." 

Such  views  and  reasonings  seem,  upon  a  superficial  exami- 
nation, to  be  very  plausible.  But  when  we  look  into  the 
Bible,  we  cannot  but  see  that  the  main  drift  of  it  is  directly 
opposed  to  such  notions.  That  book  does  encourage  man  to 
pray  to  God  for  the  removal  of  evils  of  every  kind  ;  evils  as 
much  dependent  upon  natural  laws  as  the  daily  course  of  the 
sun  through  the  heavens.  It  does  teach  us  to  look  to  God  in 
every  trying  situation  for  deliverance,  if  it  is  best  for  us  to  be 
delivered.  It  does  represent  the  wicked  man  as  in  danger 
of  special  punishment.  It  exhibits  a  multitude  of  examples, 
in  which  God  has  thus  delivered  those  who  trusted  in  him, 
and  punished  those  who  violated  his  laws. 

In  every  age,  too,  the  most  devotedly  pious  men  have  tes- 
tified, that  they  have  found  deliverance  and  support  in  circum- 
stances in  which  mere  natural  laws  could  afford  them  no 
relief  Moreover,  when  men  are  brought  into  great  peril  or 
sufl^ering  of  any  kind,  they  involuntarily  cry  to  God  for  help. 
When  the  vessel  foundei-s  in  the  fury  of  the  storm,  the  hard- 
ened sailor  employs  that  breath  in  ardent  prayer  which  just 
before  had  been  poured  out  in  blasphemies.  And  when  the 
widowed  mother  hears  the  tempest  howling  around  her  dwell- 
ing at  night,  she  cannot  but  pray  for  the  protection  of  her 
child  upon  the  treacherous  sea.     When  violent  disease  racks 


348  SPECIAL    AND    MIRACULOUS    PROVIDENCE. 

the  frame,  and  we  feel  ourselves  rapidly  sinking  into  the 
grave,,  it  is  scarcely  in  human  nature  to  omit  crying  to  God 
with  a  feeling  that  he  can  save  us.  In  short,  it  is  a  dictate 
of  nature  to  call  upon  God  in  times  of  trouble.  Our  reason- 
ing about  the  constancy  of  nature,  which  appears  to  us  while 
in  safety  so  clearly  to  show  prayer  for  the  removal  of  natural 
evils  to  be  useless,  loses  its  power,  and  the  feelings  of  the 
heart  triumph.  It  now  becomes,  therefore,  an  important  prac- 
tical question,  which  of  these  views  of  the  providence  of  God 
is  correct.  Is  it  those  which  our  reasoning  derives  from  the 
constancy  of  nature,  or  those  inspired  by  piety  and  the  Bible  ? 
I  have  already  said,  that  the  subject  of  this  lecture  removes 
all  presumption  against  the  latter  view  ;  and  I  now  proceed  to 
show  how  God  can  exercise  a  special  providence  over  the 
world,  so  as  to  meet  the  case  of  every  individual,  whether  for 
blessing  or  punishment,  and  that,  too,  without  miracles. 

Whoever  believes  that  geology  discloses  stupendous  mira- 
cles of  creation,  at  various  epochs,  will  not  doubt  that  all 
presumption  against  miraculous  agency  at  any  other  time  is 
thus  removed.  For  we  are  thus  shown  that  the  law  of  mira- 
cles forms  a  part  of  the  divine  plan  in  the  government  of  the 
world.  But  this  does  not  prove  the  same  to  be  the  fact  in 
respect  to  a  law  of  special  providence. 

It  is  indeed  true  that  geology  gives  us  no  distinct  examples 
of  special  providence,  in  the  sense  which  we  have  attached  to 
that  term  in  the  present  lecture.  But  it  does  furnish  a  multi- 
tude of  instances  in  which  changes  of  physical  condition  in 
the  earth  were  met  by  most  wisely  adapted  changes  of  organic 
nature.  And  even  though  these  changes  were  the  result  of 
miraculous  agency,  they  disclose  this  principle  of  the  divine 
government,  viz.,  that  peculiarities  of  condition  are  to  be  met 
by  special  arrangements,   so  that   every  exigency  shall  be 


SPECIAL    PROVIDENCE,    HOW    BROUGHT    ABOUT.  349 

provided  for  in  the  manner  infinite  wisdom  sees  to  be  best. 
Now,  this  principle  constitutes  the  essence  of  special  provi- 
dence ;  and,  therefore,  geology,  in  showing  its  past  operation 
in  the  world's  early  organic  history,  affords  a  presumption 
that  the  same  unchanging  God  may  still  employ  it  in  his  nat- 
ural and  moral  government. 

But  does  not  this  principle  of  special  adaptation  to  indi- 
vidual exigencies  demand  miraculous  agency  in  all  cases? 
Can  the  wants  of  individuals  be  met  in  any  other  way  than 
by  miracles,  or  by  the  ordinary  and  settled  laws  of  nature  ? 
I  maintain  that  there  are  other  modes  in  which  this  can  be 
done  ;  in  which,  in  fact,  every  case  requiring  special  inter- 
ference can  be  met  exactly  and  fully. 

This  can  he  done^  in  the  first  i^lace^  hy  a  divine  infiuence 
exerted  ujjon  the  human  mi7id^  unperceived  hy  the  individual. 
'  If  it  were  perceived,  it  would  constitute  a  miracle.  But 
can  we  doubt  that  the  Author  of  mind  should  be  able  to  influ- 
ence it  directly  and  indirectly,  unperceived  by  the  man  so 
acted  upon  ?  Even  man  can  do  this  to  his  fellov/ ;  and  shall 
such  a  power  be  denied  to  God  ? 

Now,  in  many  cases,  —  I  do  not  say  all, —  it  only  needs 
that  the  minds  of  others  should  be  inclined  to  do  so  and  so 
towards  a  man,  in  order  to  place  him  in  circumstances  most 
unlike  those  that  would  have  surrounded  him  without  such  an 
influence.  Even  the  very  elements,  being  to  some  extent 
under  human  control,  can  thus  be  made  subservient,  or  ad- 
verse, to  an  individual  ;  and,  indeed,  by  a  change  in  the  feel- 
ings and  conduct  of  others  towards  us,  by  an  unseen  influ- 
ence upon  their  minds,  our  whole  outward  condition  may  be 
changed.  In  this  way,  therefore,  can  God,  in  many  instances, 
confer  blessings  on  the  virtuous,  or  execute  punishment  upon 
the  wicked,  or  give  special  answers  to  special  prayer ;  and 
30 


350  SPECIAL    AND    MIRACULOUS    PROVIDENCE. 

yet  there  shall  be  no  miracle  about  it,  nor  even  the  slightest 
violation  of  a  law  of  matter  or  of  mind.  The  result  may- 
seem  to  us  only  the  natural  effect  of  those  laws,  and  yet 
the  divine  influence  may  have  modified  the  effect  to  any 
extent. 

In  the  second  place^  God  can  so  modify  the  second  causes 
of  events  out  of  our  sights  as  to  change  wholly^  or  in  part^  the 
final  result^  and  yet  not  disturb  the  usual  order  of  nature 
within  sight,  so  that  there  shall  be  no  miracle. 

A  miracle  requires  that  the  usual  order  of  nature,  as  man 
sees  it,  be  interrupted,  or  some  force  superadded  to  her 
agency.  But  if  such  change  take  place  out  of  our  sight,  it 
might  not  disturb  that  order  within  sight ;  and,  therefore,  to 
us  it  would  be  no  miracle. 

The  mode  in  which  this  can  be  done  depends  upon  the  fact 
that  in  nature  we  often  find  several  causes,  essential  to  produce 
an  effect,  connected  together,  as  it  were,  in  a  chain  ;  so  that 
each  link  depends  upon  that  which  precedes  it.  Thus  the  power 
of  vision  depends  upon  the  optic  nerve,  in  the  bottom  of  the  eye. 
But  this  would  be  useless,  were  not  the  coats  and  humors  of 
the  eye  of  a  certain  consistence  and  curvature,  in  order  to 
bring  the  rays  together  to  form  an  image  on  the  retina. 
Again,  these  coats  and  humors  depend  upon  light,  and  light 
depends  for  its  transmission,  probably,  upon  that  exceedingly 
elastic  medium  called  the  huniniferous  ether.  This  is  as  far 
back  as  we  can  trace  the  series  of  causes  concerned  in  pro- 
ducing vision.  And  yet  this  elastic  ether  may  depend  upon 
something  else,  and  this  cause  of  the  movement  of  the  ether 
upon  another  cause  ;  and  we  know  not  how  long  the  chain 
may  be  before  we  reach  the  great  First  Cause.  Now,  if  any 
one  of  this  series  of  second  causes  be  modified,  the  eflfect 
will  be   a   modification  of  the   final  resuU.     This  supposed 


CAUSES    OUT    OF    SIGHT    CHANGED.  351 

modification  may  take  place  in  that  part  of  the  chain  of 
causes  within  our  view,  or  in  that  part  concealed  from  us.  If 
it  took  place  within  sight,  it  would  constitute  a  miracle  ;  be- 
cause the  regular  sequence  of  cause  and  effect  would  be 
broken  off,  or  an  unnatural  power  be  imparted  to  the  cause 
producing  the  ultimate  effect.  If  the  modification  took  place 
in  that  part  of  the  chain  of  second  causes  out  of  our  sight, 
the  final  effect  would  be  no  miracle  ;  because  it  would  be 
brought  about  by  natural  laws,  and  these  would  perfectly  ex- 
plain it.  Nevertheless,  this  ultimate  effect  would  be  different 
from  what  it  would  be  if  God  had  not  touched  and  modified 
that  link  of  causation  which  lies  out  of  our  sight,  back  among 
the  secret  agencies  of  his  will.  And  I  see  not  but  in  this 
way  he  might  modify  the  ultimate  effect  as  much  as  he 
pleased,  and  still  preserve  the  unvarying  constancy  of  nature. 
For  in  all  these  cases  we  should  see  only  the  links  of  the 
chain  of  causes  nearest  to  us;  and,  provided  they  operated  in 
their  usual  order,  how  could  we  know  that  any  change  had 
taken  place  in  the  region  beyond  our  knowledge  ?  If  the 
whole  chain  of  causation  were  open  to  our  inspection,  then, 
indeed,  would  the  transaction  be  an  obvious  miracle ;  but 
now  we  see  nothing  but  the  unchanging  operation  of  natu- 
ral laws. 

To  illustrate  this  principle,  let  us  imagine  a  few  examples. 
Suppose  the  land  visited  by  drought,  and  its  pious  inhabitants 
assemble  to  pray  for  rain.  We  know  very  well  that  the 
causes  on  which  a  storm  of  rain  depend  are  very  compli- 
cated. How  easy  for  the  divine  Being,  in  answer  to  those 
prayers,  to  modify  one  or  more  of  these  secret  agencies  of 
meteorological  change,  that  are  concealed  from  our  sight,  so 
as  to  bring  together  the  vapors  over  the  land  and  condense 
them  into  rain !     And  yet  that  storm  shall  have  nothing  about 


352  SPECIAL    AND    MIRACULOUS    PROVIDENCE. 

it  unusual,  and  it  results  from  the  same  laws  which  we  have 
before  seen  to  be  in  operation.  Still,  it  may  have  been  the 
result  of  a  special  agency  exerted  by  Jehovah  in  answer  to 
prayer,  yet  in  such  a  manner  that  no  known  law  of  nature  is 
infringed  upon,  or  even  rendered  more  powerful  in  its  action. 

Equally  intricate  and  complicated  are  the  causes  of  dis- 
ease, and  especially  of  those  pestilences  that  sometimes 
march  over  a  whole  continent,  with  the  angel  of  death  in 
their  train ;  and  alike  easy  is  it  for  God,  in  answer  to  earnest 
prayer,  to  avert  their  progress,  or  to  cripple  their  power,  or 
turn  them  aside  from  a  particular  district,  without  the  least 
interference  with  the  visible  connection  of  cause  and  effect. 

The  beloved  father  of  a  family  lies  upon  a  bed  of  sickness, 
and  disease  is  fast  gaining  upon  the  powers  of  life.  His  nu- 
merous and  desolate  family,  in  spite  of  the  cold  suggestion 
that  it  will  be  of  no  avail,  will  earnestly  beseech  the  Being  in 
whose  hands  is  the  power  of  disease,  to  arrest  the  fatal  mal- 
ady. And  could  not  their  Father  in  heaven,  in  the  way  I 
have  pointed  out,  give  them  their  request,  and  yet  their 
parent's  recovery  be  the  natural  result  of  careful  nursing  and 
medical  skill  ?  imposing,  however,  upon  that  family  as  great 
an  obligation  as  if  a  manifest  miracle  had  been  wrought  to 
save  him. 

The  widow's  only  son,  in  spite  of  her  counsels  and  en- 
treaties, becomes  a  vagabond  upon  the  seas,  and,  at  length, 
one  of  the  crew  of  the  battle  ship.  The  perils  of  the  deep 
and  of  vicious  companions  are  enough  to  make  that  widow  a 
daily  and  most  earnest  suppliant  at  the  mercy-seat  of  her 
heavenly  Father,  for  his  protection  and  salvation.  But,  at 
length,  war  breaks  out,  and  the  perils  of  battle  render  his  fate 
more  doubtful.  Still,  faith  in  God  buoys  up  her  heart,  and 
she  cannot  abandon  the  hope  of  yet  seeing  her  son  returned, 


SPECIAL    REWARDS    AND    PUNISHMENTS.  853 

reformed,  and  becoming  a  useful  man.  And  at  length,  res- 
cued from  the  storm  and  shipwreck,  and  the  carnage  of  bat- 
tle, and  the  yet  more  dangerous  snares  of  sin,  that  youth 
returns,  a  renovated  man,  and  cheers  that  mother's  setting 
sun  by  an  eminently  useful  life.  Now,  all  this  may  have 
happened  simply  by  the  operation  of  natural  laws.  But  it 
may  also  have  been  the  result  of  divine  interference  in  answer 
to  prayer  ;  and  hard  will  you  find  it  to  convince  that  rejoicing 
mother  that  the  hand  of  God's  extraordinary  providence  was 
not  in  it. 

The  devoted  missionary,  at  the  promptings  of  a  voice 
within,  quits  a  land  of  safety  and  peace,  and  finds  himself  in 
the  midst  of  dangers  and  sufferings  of  almost  every  name  ; 
in  perils  of  waters,  in  perils  of  robbers,  in  perils  in  the 
city,  in  perils  in  the  wilderness,  in  iceariness,  in  loatchings 
often,  in  hunger  and  thirst,  in  fastings  often,  in  cold  and 
nakedness.  The  furnace  of  persecution  is  heated,  and  he 
performs  his  duties  with  his  life  constantly  in  his  hand.  But 
he  uses  no  weapon  save  faith  and  prayer.  He  feels  that  ''  he 
is  immortal  till  his  work  is  done."  And,  in  fact,  he  outlives 
all  his  dangers,  and,  in  venerable  old  age,  surrounded  by  the 
fruits  of  his  labor,  —  a  reformed  and  affectionate  people, — 
he  passes  quietly  into  the  abodes  of  the  blessed.  Here, 
again,  why  should  we  hesitate  to  refer  his  protection  and  de- 
liverance to  the  special  interposition  of  his  heavenly  Father, 
in  the  manner  I  have  pointed  out  ? 

On  the  other  hand,  the  history  of  dreadfully  wicked  men 
is  full  of  terrible  examples  of  calamity  and  suffering,  as  the 
consequence  of  their  sins.  True,  the  evil  came  upon  them 
apparently  by  the  operation  of  natural  laws  ;  but  shall  we 
hence  infer  that  God  in  no  case  has  so  modified  these  laws, 
by  an  agency  among  the  hidden  causes  of  events,  as  to  make 
30* 


354        SPECIAL  AND  MIRACULOUS  PROVIDENCE. 

the  result  certain  ?  He  certainly  could  do  this  ;  and  to  say- 
that  he  never  has  done  it,  is  to  remove  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful restraints  that  operate  upon  the  wicked. 

In  several  examples  recorded  in  the  Bible,  both  of  deliver- 
ance for  the  virtuous  and  of  punishment  for  the  wicked,  so 
many  natural  agencies  are  concerned,  that  we  are  left  in 
doubt  whether  the  events  are  to  be  regarded  as  miraculous 
or  not.  Let  the  deluge,  the  destruction  of  Sodom,  and  the 
passage  of  the  Israelites  through  the  Red  Sea,  serve  as  exam- 
ples. In  the  first,  we  find  the  flood  imputed  to  a  forty  days' 
rain  and  the  overflowing  of  the  ocean  ;  and  its  reduction  to  a 
wind.  In  the  destruction  of  the  cities  of  the  plain,  the  phe- 
nomena described  correspond  very  well  with  the  effects  of 
volcanic  agency  ;  and  we  find  accordingly  that  the  region 
where  those  cities  stood  shows  marks  of  that  agency.  In 
the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea,  the  removal  of  the  waters,  to 
allow  the  Israelites  to  pass,  is  imputed  to  a  strong  east  wind 
all  night.  Nevertheless,  the  pillar  of  a  cloud  by  day  and  the 
pillar  of  fire  by  night  were  a  manifest  and  standing  miracle 
in  this  transaction. 

Now,  may  it  not  be  that,  in  all  these  cases,  so  far  as  natu- 
ral agencies  were  concerned,  they  were  made  to  conspire 
with  the  miraculous  in  the  manner  which  I  have  described, 
viz.,  by  such  a  modification  of  some  of  the  remote  causes  by 
which  they  were  brought  into  action,  as  exactly  to  answer 
the  divine  purpose  in  the  catastrophe  of  the  deluge,  of  Sodom, 
and  in  the  passage  of  the  Red  Sea  ? 

A  third  mode  hij  which  the  jmrposes  of  special  providence 
can  he  hrought  about  loithout  miracles  is  hy  such  an  adjust- 
ment of  the  direct  and  lateral  influences  on  which  events  de- 
pend^ that  the  time  and  manner  of  their  occurrence  shall  ex- 
actly meet  every  exigency. 


DIRECT  AND  LATEEAL  INFLUENCES.  355 

Although  it  expresses  a  truth  to  represent  the  second 
causes  of  events  as  constituting  the  links  of  a  chain,  it  is  not 
the  whole  truth.  For,  in  fact,  those  causes  are  connected 
together  in  the  form  of  a  network,  or,  more  exactly  still,  by 
a  sphere  filled  with  interlocked  meshes  ;  or,  to  speak  more 
mathematically,  the  forces  by  which  events  are  produced  are 
both  direct  and  indirect.  It  would  be  easy  to  calculate  the 
effect  of  a  single  direct  force  ;  but  if,  in  its  progress,  it  meets 
with  a  multitude  of  oblique  impulses,  striking  it  at  every  pos- 
sible angle,  what  human  mathematics  can  make  out  the  final 
resultant  ?  Yet,  in  fact,  such  is  the  history  of  almost  every 
event.  The  lateral  influences,  which  meet  and  modify  the 
direct  force,  are  so  numerous,  and  unexpected  often,  that 
men  are  amazed  at  the  result,  sometimes  as  unexpected  as  a 
miracle.  "  When  an  individual,"  says  Isaac  Taylor,  "  receives 
an  answer  to  his  prayer,  the  interposition  may  be  made,  not 
in  the  line  which  he  himself  is  describing,  but  in  one  of  those 
which  are  to  meet  him  on  his  path  ;  and  at  a  point,  therefore, 
where,  even  though  the  visible  constancy  of  nature  should  be 
violated,  yet,  as  Joeing  at  the  time  beyond  the  sphere  of  his 
observation,  it  is  a  violation  not  visible  to  him."  "  And  herein 
is  especially  manifested  the  perfection  of  divine  wisdom,  that 
the  most  surprising  conjunctions  of  events  are  brought  about 
by  the  simplest  means,  and  in  a  manner  that  is  perfectly 
in  harmony  with  the  ordinary  course  of  human  affairs.  This 
is,  in  fact,  the  great  miracle  of  providence,  that  no  miracles 
are  needed  to  accomplish  its  purposes."  —  Nat.  History  of 
Enthusiasm.,  p.  128. 

This  complication  of  causes  does  not  merely  give  variety 
to  the  works  and  operations  of  nature,  but  it  enables  God  to 
produce  effects  which  could  never  have  resulted  from  each 
law  acting  singly  ;  nor  is  there  a  scarcely  conceivable  limit  to 


.356  SPECIAL    AND    MTRACULOUS    PROVIDENCE. 

these  modifications.  Indeed,  in  this  way  can  Providence 
accomplish  all  his  beneficent  purposes,  and  meet  every  indi- 
vidual case,  just  as  infinite  wisdom  would  have  it  met.  "  By 
this  agency,"  says  M'Cosh,  "  God  can  at  one  time  increase, 
and  at  another  time  lessen,  or  completely  nullify,  the  sponta- 
neous efforts  of  the  fixed  properties  of  matter.  Now  he  can 
make  the  most  powerful  agents  in  nature  —  such  as  wind, 
fire,  and  disease  —  coincide  and  cooperate  to  produce  effects 
of  such  a  tremendous  magnitude  as  none  of  them  separately 
could  accomplish  ;  and  again,  he  can  arrest  their  influence 
by  counteracting  agencies,  or,  rather,  by  making  them  coun- 
teract each  other.  He  can,  for  instance,  by  a  concurrence 
of  natural  laws,  bring  a  person,  who  is  in  the  enjoyment  of 
health  at  present,  to  the  very  borders  of  death,  an  hour  or  an 
instant  hence  ;  and  he  can,  by  a  like  means,  suddenly  restore 
the  same  or  another  individual  to  health,  after  he  has  been  on 
the  very  verge  of  the  grave.  By  the  confluence  of  two  or 
more  streams,  he  can  bring  agencies  of  tremendous  potency 
to  bear  upon  the  production  of  a  given  effect,  such  as  a  war, 
a  pestilence,  or  a  revolution  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  by 
drawing  aside  the  stream  into  another  channel,  he  can  arrest, 
at  any  given  instant,  the  awful  effects  that  would  otherwise 
follow  from  these  agencies,  and  save  an  individual,  a  family, 
or  a  nation,  from  the  evils  which  seem  ready  to  burst  upon 
them. 

"  Guided  by  these  principles  and  guarded  by  sound  sense, 
the  inquiring  mind  will  discover  many  and  wonderful  designed 
connections  between  the  various  events  of  divine  providence. 
Read  in  the  spirit  of  faith,  striking  coincidences  will  every 
where  manifest  themselves.  What  singular  unions  of  two 
streams  at  the  proper  place  to  help  on  the  exertions  of  the 
great  and    good  !      What  curious    intersections   of  cords    to 


THE    ORIGINAL    PLAN    OF    THE    UNIVERSE.  357 

catch  the  wicked  as  in  a  net,  when  they  are  prowling  as  wild 
beasts  !  By  strange  but  most  apposite  correspondences, 
human  strength,  when  set  against  the  will  of  God,  is  made  to 
waste  away  under  God's  indignation  burning  against  it,  as,  in 
heathen  story,  Meleager  wasted  away  as  the  stick  burned 
which  his  mother  held  in  the  fire."  —  Method  of  the  Divine 
Government^  pp.  176,  203. 

In  many  cases,  the  lateral  streams  of  influence  that  flow  in 
and  bring  unexpected  relief  to  the  pious  man,  and  unexpect- 
ed punishment  to  the  wicked,  or  a  marked  answer  to  prayer, 
seem  to  the  individuals  little  short  of  miraculous.  Yet,  after 
all,  they  can  see  no  violation  of  the  natural  order  of  cause 
and  effect.  But  the  wonder  is,  how  the  modifying  influence 
should  come  in  just  at  the  right  moment.  It  may,  indeed,  have 
received  a  commission  to  do  this  very  thing  from  the  imme- 
diate impulse  of  Jehovah  ;  yet,  being  unperceived  by  us,  it  is 
no  miracle.  Or  the  whole  plan  may  have  been  so  arranged 
at  the  beginning  that  its  development  will  meet  every  case 
of  special  providence  exactly.  Which  of  these  views  may 
be  most  accordant  with  truth,  may  admit  of  discussion.  Yet 
we  think  that  all  the  modes  that  have  been  pointed  out,  by 
which  miraculous  and  special  providences  are  brought  about, 
may  be  referred  to  one  general  proposition,  which  we  now 
proceed  to  state. 

In  the  fourth  place,  the  plan  of  the  universe  in  the  divine 
mind,  at  the  heginning,  must  have  embraced  every  case  of 
miracles  and  of  special  providence. 

From  the  nature  of  the  divine  attributes  we  infer  with  cer- 
tainty that  every  event  occurring  in  the  universe  must  have 
entered  into  the  original  plan  of  creation  in  the  mind  of  God. 
Surely  no  one  will  deny   that    he   must  have  foreseen  the 


358        SPECIAL  AND  MIRACULOUS  PROVIDENCE. 

operation  of  every  law  which  he  established,  and,  consequently, 
every  event  which  it  would  produce.  But  there  must  be 
some  ground  for  foreknowledge  to  rest  upon  ;  otherwise  it  is 
conjecture,  not  knowledge.  And  what  could  that  basis  be 
but  the  divine  plan  ? 

Equally  clear  is  it  that,  whatever  plans  existed  in  the  mind 
of  God,  when  he  brought  the  universe  into  existence,  must 
always  have  been  there.  For  to  suppose  that  there  was  a 
point  of  duration  when  the  plan  was  first  conceived,  would 
imply  new  knowledge  in  one  confessedly  omniscient ;  and  that 
destroys  the  idea  of  omniscience. 

Similar  reasoning  from  the  nature  of  the  divine  attributes 
leads  us  to  the  conclusion  that  God  always  acts  according  to 
law.  That  he  does  this  in  the  ordinary  operations  of  nature, 
all  admit.  But  even  when  he  introduces  a  miracle,  —  per- 
haps by  a  counteraction  of  ordinary  laws, —  he  may  still  act 
by  some  rule ;  so  that,  were  precisely  the  same  circum- 
stances to  occur  again,  the  same  miracle  would  be  repeated. 
Beforehand,  we  could  not  say  whether  God  would  conduct 
the  affairs  of  the  universe  by  one  unvarying  system  of  natu- 
ral laws,  or  occasionally  interfere  with  the  regular  sequence 
of  cause  and  effect  by  miracle.  But  though  the  latter  course 
should  be  adopted,  as  we  have  reason  to  think  it  is,  even  the 
special  interference  must  be  according  to  law  ;  so  that,  in 
fact,  there  is  a  law  of  miracles  as  well  as  of  common  events. 
Again,  if  God  sometimes  alters  one  or  more  of  the  links  out 
of  sight,  in  a  chain  of  second  causes,  in  order  to  meet  a 
providential  exigency,  or  if  he  modifies  for  the  same  pur- 
pose some  of  the  oblique  influences  by  which  events  are 
affected,  all  this  must  be  done  by  rule  ;  that  is,  by  law.  In- 
deed, to  suppose  him  ever  to  act  without  law,  is  to  represent 


ALL    EVENTS    FORESEEN.  359 

him  as  less  wise  than  men,  who,  if  judicious,  are  always 
governed  by  settled  principles,  which  produce  the  same 
conduct  in  the  same  circumstances. 

From  this  reasoning  we  may  safely  infer  two  things  : 
first,  that  the  laws  regulating  miracles  and  special  provi- 
dences are  as  fixed  and  certain  as  those  of  ordinary  events  ; 
and  secondly,  that  those  laws  must  have  formed  a  part  of 
the  plan  of  creation  originally  existing  in  the  divine  mind. 
And  hence,  thirdly,  we  must  admit  that  every  case  of  miracle 
and  special  providence  must  have  entered  into  that  plan. 

When  he  formed  it,  he  foresaw  every  possible  event  that 
would  result  from  its  operation  to  the  end  of  the  world.  He 
saw  distinctly  the  condition  of  every  individual  of  the  human 
family,  from  the  beginning  to  the  close  of  life  ;  all  his  dan- 
gers and  trials,  his  sufferings  and  his  sins  ;  and  he  knew 
just  when  and  where  every  prayer  would  be  offered  up.  Nor 
can  it  be  any  more  doubtful  that,  with  infinite  wisdom  to 
guide  him,  and  infinite  power  to  execute  his  will,  God  could 
so  have  arranged  and  constituted  the  laws  of  nature,  as  to 
meet  exactly  every  case  that  should  ever  occur,  just  in  the 
way  he  would  wish  to  have  it  met.  Those  laws  might  have 
been  so  framed  and  disposed  that,  after  running  on  in  one 
unvarying  course  for  ages,  a  new  one  might  come  in,  or  the 
old  ones  be  modified,  and  at  once  produce  effects  quite  diflfer- 
ent,  and  then  the  first  laws  resume  again  their  usual  course. 
And  the  new  or  modified  law  might  be  made  to  produce  its 
extraordinary  or  peculiar  effects  just  at  the  moment  when 
some  miracle  or  special  providence  would  be  needed.  Thus 
what  would  be  to  us  a  special  or  miraculous  interposition  of 
divine  power,  might  be  the  foreseen  and  foreordained  result 
of  God's  original  purpose.  And  if  we  can  conceive  how 
such  an  effect  could  be  produced  once,  we  cannot  doubt  that 


360  SPECIAL    AND    MIRACULOUS    PROVIDENCE. 

infinite  wisdom  and  power  could  in  like  manner  meet  every 
possible  case  in  which  what  we  call  special  and  miraculous 
providence  would  be  needed.  With  our  limited  powers,  we 
are  obliged,  after  constructing  a  complicated  machine,  to  put 
it  into  operation  before  we  can  judge  certainly  of  its  effects ; 
and  then,  if  our  wishes  are  not  met,  we  must  alter  the  parts, 
or  in  some  other  way  meet  the  new  cases  that  occur ;  and 
hence  we  find  it  difficult  to  conceive  how  it  can  be  otherwise 
with  God.  But  he  sav/  the  operation  of  the  vast  machine  of 
the  universe  just  as  clearly  at  the  beginning  as  at  any  subse- 
quent period.  He,  therefore,  can  do  at  the  beginning  what 
we  can  do  only  after  experience,  viz.,  adapt  the  parts  to  every 
variety  of  circumstances. 

If  I  mistake  not,  we  are  indebted  to  Bishop  Butler  for  the 
germ  of  these  views  ;  but  Professor  Babbage  has  illustrated 
them  by  reference  to  an  extraordinary  machine  of  his  own 
invention,  called  "  The  Calculating  Engine."  It  is  adapted 
to  perform  the  most  extensive  and  complicated  numerical  cal- 
culations, of  course  with  absolute  certainty,  because  its  parts 
are  arranged  by  certain  laws.  And  he  finds  that  precisely 
such  effects,  on  a  small  scale,  can  be  produced  by  this  ma- 
chine, as  have  been  imputed  above  to  the  divine  agency  in 
creation.  It  is  moved  by  a  weight  and  a  wheel  which  turns 
at  a  short  interval  around  its  axis,  and  prints  a  series  of  natu- 
ral numbers,  —  1,2,  8,  4,  5,  &c.,  —  each  exceeding  its  ante- 
cedent by  unity.  "Now,  reader,  let  me  ask  you,"  says  Pro- 
fessor Babbage,  "  how  long  you  will  have  counted  before  you 
are  firmly  convinced  that  the  engine,  supposing  its  adjustments 
to  remain  unaltered,  will  continue,  whilst  its  motion  is  main- 
tained, to  produce  the  same  series  of  natural  numbers.  Some 
minds,  perhaps,  are  so  constituted  that,  after  passing  the  first 
hundred  terms,  they  will  be  satisfied  that  they  are  acquainted 


THE    CALCULATING    MACHINE.  361 

With  the  law.  After  seeing  five  hundred  terms,  few  will  doubt ; 
and  after  the  fifty  thousandth  term,  the  propensity  to  believe 
the  succeeding  term  will  be  fifty  thousand  and  one,  will  be 
almost  irresistible.  That  term  will  be  fifty  thousand  and  one  ; 
the  same  regular  succession  will  continue  ;  the  five  millionth 
and  the  fifty  millionth  term  will  appear  in  their  expected 
order,  and  one  unbroken  chain  of  numbers  will  pass  be- 
fore you,  from  one  up  to  one  hundred  millions.  True  to 
the  vast  induction  which  has  thus  been  made,  the  next  suc- 
ceeding term  will  be  one  hundred  millions  and  one ;  but  after 
that,  the  next  number  presented  by  the  rim  of  the  wheel,  in- 
stead of  being  one  hundred  millions  and  two,  is  one  hundred 
millions  ten  thousand  and  two. 

"  The  law  which  seemed  to  govern  this  series  fails  at  the  one 
hundred  million  and  second  term.  That  term  is  larger  than 
we  expected  by  ten  thousand.  The  next  term  is  larger  than 
was  anticipated  by  thirty  thousand.  If  we  still  continue  to 
observe  the  numbers  presented  by  the  wheel,  we  shall  find 
that  for  a  hundred,  or  even  for  a  thousand  terms,  they  con- 
tinue to  follow  the  new  law  relating  to  the  triangular  num- 
bers ;  but  after  watching  them  for  twenty-seven  hundred  and 
sixty-one  terms,  we  find  that  this  law  fails  in  the  case  of  the 
twenty-seven  hundred  and  sixty-second  term.  If  we  con- 
tinue to  observe,  another  law  then  comes  into  action.  This 
will  continue  through  fourteen  hundred  and  thirty  terms,  when 
a  new  law  is  again  introduced,  which  extends  over  about  nine 
hundred  and  fifty  terms ;  and  this,  too,  like  all  its  predeces- 
sors, fails,  and  gives  place  to  other  laws,  which  appear  at 
different  intervals.  It  is  also  possible  so  to  arrange  the  engine, 
that  at  any  periods,  however  remote,  the  first  law  shall  be 
interrupted  for  one  or  more  times,  and  be  superseded  by  any 
31 


362        SPECIAL  AND  MIRACULOUS  PROVIDENCE. 

Other  laws,  after  which  the  original  law  shall  be  again  pro- 
duced, and  no  other  deviation  shall  ever  take  place. 

*'  Now,  it  must  be  remarked  that  the  law  that  each  number 
presented  by  the  engine  is  greater  by  unity  than  the  pre- 
ceding number,  which  law  the  observer  had  deduced  from  an 
induction  of  a  hundred  million  of  instances,  was  not  the  true 
law  that  regulated  its  action ;  and  that  the  occurrence  of  the 
number  one  hundred  million  ten  thousand  and  two  at  the  one 
hundred  million  and  second  term  was  as  necessary  a  conse- 
quence of  the  original  adjustment  as  was  the  regular  succes- 
sion of  any  one  of  the  intermediate  numbers  to  its  immediate 
antecedent.  The  same  remark  applies  to  the  next  apparent 
deviation  from  the  new  law,  which  was  founded  on  an  induc- 
tion of  two  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-one  terms  ;  and 
to  all  the  succeeding  laws,  with  this  limitation  only,  that  whilst 
their  consecutive  introduction  at  various  definite  intervals  is  a 
necessary  consequence  of  the  mechanical  structure  of  the 
engine,  our  knowledge  of  analysis  does  not  yet  enable  us  to 
predict  the  periods  at  which  the  more  distant  laws  will  be 
introduced."  —  Ninth  Bridgeicater  Treatise. 

The  application  of  these  statements  to  the  doctrine  of  special 
as  well  as  of  miraculous  providence  is  very  obvious.  If 
human  ingenuity  can  construct  a  machine  which  shall  exhibit 
the  introduction  of  new  laws,  after  the  old  ones  had  been 
established  by  an  induction  of  a  hundred  million  of  examples, 
and  these  new  ones  be  succeeded  by  others,  how  much  easier 
for  the  infinite  God  to  construct  the  vast  and  more  compli- 
cated machine  of  the  universe,  so  that  new  laws,  or  modifi- 
cations of  the  old  ones,  shall  be  introduced  at  various  periodis 
of  its  history,  to  meet  every  exigency  !  How  easy  for  him  so 
to  adjust  this  machine  at  the  beginning,  that  the  new  laws  and 


OBJECTIONS    CONSIDERED.  363 

new  modes  of  action  should  be  introduced,  precisely  at  those 
points  where  a  special  providence  would  be  desirable,  to 
reward  the  virtuous  and  to  punish  the  wicked,  and  then  the 
old  law  again  assume  its  dominion  !  And  how  easily,  in  this 
way,  could  the  case  of  every  individual  be  met,  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  world !  1  mean,  how  easy  would 
this  work  be  to  infinite  wisdom  and  power ! 

But  if  all  events,  miraculous  as  well  as  common,  may  de- 
pend upon  unbending  law,  how  does  such  a  view  differ  from 
the  one  I  am  now  opposing,  viz.,  that  the  constancy  of  nature^s 
laws  precludes  the  idea  of  any  special  interference  on  the 
part  of  God,  in  human  affairs  ?  The  main  point  of  difference, 
I  reply,  is,  that  the  advocates  of  the  latter  view  will  not  admit 
any  such  thing  at  the  present  day  as  special  interference,  on 
the  part  of  the  Deity,  with  nature.  They  admit  only  uniform 
and  ordinary  laws,  which  they  suppose  are  never  interrupted. 
This  I  deny  ;  and  endeavor  to  show,  not  only  that  the  contrary 
may  be  a  fact,  but  that  God  purposed  it  originally,  and  deter- 
mined the  laws  by  which  it  might  be  accomplished.  The  fact 
that  he  did  this  beforehand,  even  from  eternity,  no  more  pre- 
cludes his  agency,  than  the  special  interference  of  a  father  to 
help  his  child  through  a  dangerous  pass  is  disproved,  because 
he  foresaw  the  danger  and  provided  the  means  of  defence  even 
before  the  child  was  born.  If  the  father  was  actually  with 
the  child,  as  he  went  through  the  danger,  and  held  out  to  him 
the  requisite  help,  what  difference  could  it  make,  though  the 
father  purposed  to  do  so  a  long  time  previously  ?  And  if  we 
admit  that  God's  efficiency  alone  gives  power  to  the  ordinary 
laws  of  nature,  we  shall  admit  that  in  every  special  law  he  is 
as  really  present  with  his  energy,  as  a  father  who  should  lead 
his  child  by  the  hand  through  the  dangerous  path.  So  that, 
practically  at  least,  the  difference  between  these  two  views  of 


364  SPECIAL    AND    MIRACULOUS    PROVIDENCE. 

the  subject  is  very  great ;  the  one  removing  God  far  away, 
and  putting  law  in  his  place ;  and  the  other  bringing  him 
near,  and  making  him  the  actual  and  constant  agent  in  every 
event.  The  one  view  is  practical  atheism,  although  often 
adopted  by  religious  men  ;  the  other  is  practical  Christianity. 

By  the  principles  of  physical  science,  then,  the  scriptural 
doctrines  of  miraculous  and  special  providence  are  proved  to 
be  in  accordance  with  philosophy.  The  miracles  of  rev- 
elation are  shown  to  have  been  preceded  by  the  miracles  of 
geology ;  and  are,  therefore,  in  conformity  with  the  princi- 
ples of  the  divine  government.  The  modifications  which  God 
can  make  in  the  causes  of  events  out  of  human  view,  or  the 
changes  which  he  can  produce  by  lateral  influences  upon  the 
final  result,  —  all,  it  may  be,  in  conformity  to  an  eternal 
plan,  reaching  the  minutest  of  human  affairs,  —  enable  him  to 
execute  every  purpose  of  special  providence  so  as  to  satisfy 
every  exigency. 

The  sceptic  may  say,  that  we  cannot  prove  by  facts  that 
God  does  so  modify  and  arrange  the  laws  and  operations  of 
nature  as  to  adapt  his  dealings  to  the  case  of  individuals.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  neither  can  he  show  that  God  does  not 
thus  interfere  with  nature's  uniformity.  It  is  enough  to  show 
that  he  can  do  it  without  a  miracle,  in  order  to  establish  the 
doctrine  of  special  providence.  How  often  he  exercises  this 
power,  we  cannot  know  ;  but  we  may  be  sure  as  often  as  is 
desirable. 

A  most  important  application  of  these  principles  may  be 
made  to  the  subject  of  prayer.  For  in  answering  prayer, 
God  is,  in  fact,  merely  executing  some  of  the  purposes  of  his 
special  providence  ;  and  it  is  gratifying  to  the  pious  heart  to 
see  how  he  can  give  an  answer  to  the  humblest  petitioner. 
No  matter  though  all  the  laws  of  nature  seem  in  the  way  of  an 


rEllVEKSlON    Oi'     TliK    TKUTIl.  365 

answer,  —  God  can  so  modify  their  action  as  to  conform  them 
to  the  case  of  every  petitioner.  War,  famine,  and  pestilence 
may  all  be  upon  us,  yet  humble  prayer  may  turn  them  all 
aside,  and  every  other  physical  evil ;  and  that  without  a  mir- 
acle, if  best  for  us  and  for  the  universe.  Tell  a  man  that  the 
only  effect  of  prayer  is  its  reflex  influence  upon  himself,  in 
leading  him  to  conform  more  strictly  to  nature's  laws,  and 
you  send  a  paralysis  and  a  death  chill  into  all  his  moral  sen- 
sibilities. Indeed,  he  cannot  pray  ;  but  tell  him  that  God  will 
be  influenced,  as  is  any  earthly  friend,  by  his  supplications, 
and  his  heart  beats  full  and  strong,  the  current  of  life  goes 
bounding  through  his  whole  system,  the  glow  of  health  man- 
tles his  cheek,  and  all  his  senses  are  roused  into  intense  and 
delightful  action. 

The  sad  influence  of  a  perversion  and  misunderstanding  of 
the  doctrine  of  nature's  constancy  upon  the  youthful  mind  is 
well  exhibited  by  a  late  able  writer.  "  Early  trained  to  it 
under  the  domestic  roof,"  says  M'Cosh,  "  the  person  regu- 
larly engaged  in  prayer  during  childhood  and  opening  man- 
hood. But  as  he  became  introduced  to  general  society,  and 
began  to  feel  his  independence  of  the  guardians  of  his  youth, 
he  was  tempted  to  look  upon  the  father's  commands,  in  this 
respect,  as  proceeding  from  sourness  and  sternness,  and  the 
mother's  advice  as  originating  in  an  amiable  weakness  and 
timidity.  He  is  now  careless  in  the  performance  of  acts 
which  in  time  past  had  been  punctually  attended  to.  How 
short,  how  hurried,  how  cold  are  the  prayers  which  he  now 
utters  !  Then  there  come  to  be  mornings  on  which  he  is 
snatched  away  to  some  very  important  or  enticing  work  with- 
out engaging  in  his  customary  devotions.  There  are  evenings, 
too,  following  days  of  mad  excitement  or  sinful  pleasure,  in 
which  he  feels  utterly  indisposed  to  go  into  the  presence  of 
31* 


366  SPECIAL    AND    BIIRACULOUS    PROVIDENCE. 

God,  and  to  be  left  alone  with  him.  He  feels  that  there  is  an 
utter  incongruity  between  the  ball-room,  or  the  theatre,  which 
he  has  just  left,  and  the  throne  of  grace,  to  which  he  should 
now  go.  What  can  he  say  to  Gk>d,  when  he  would  pray  to 
him  ?  Confess  his  sins  ?  No  ;  he  does  not  at  present  feel 
the  act  to  be  sinful.  Thank  God  for  giving  him  access  to 
such  follies  ?  He  has  his  doubts  whether  God  approves  of  all 
that  has  been  done.  But  he  may  ask  God's  blessing  ?  No  ; 
he  is  scarcely  disposed  to  acknowledge  that  he  needs  a  bless- 
ing, or  he  doubts  whether  the  blessing  would  be  given.  The 
practical  conclusion  to  which  he  comes  is,  that  it  may  be  as 
consistent  in  him  to  betake  himself  to  sleep  without  offering 
to  God  what  he  feels  would  only  be  a  mockery.  What  is  he 
to  do  the  following  morning  ?  It  is  a  critical  time.  Confess 
his  error  ?  No  ;  cherishing  as  he  does  the  recollection  of  the 
gay  scene  in  which  he  mingled,  and  with  the  taste  and  relish 
of  it  yet  upon  his  palate,  he  is  not  prepared  to  acknowledge 
his  folly.  Morning  and  evening  now  go  and  return,  and  bring 
new  gifts  from  God,  and  new  manifestations  of  his  goodness; 
but  no  acknowledgment  of  the  divine  bounty  on  the  part  of 
him  who  is  yet  ever  receiving  it.  No  doubt  there  are  times 
when  he  is  prompted  to  prayer  by  powerful  feelings,  called 
up  by  outward  trials  or  inward  convictions  ;  but  ever  when 
the  storms  of  human  life  would  drive  him  to  the  shore,  there 
is  a  tide  beating  him  back.  His  course  continues  to  be  a  very 
vacillating  one  —  now  seeming  to  approach  to  God,  and  anon 
driven  farther  from  him,  till  he  obtains  from  books,  or  from 
lectures,  a  smattering  of  half-understood  science.  He  now 
learns  that  all  things  are  governed  by  laws,  regular  and  fixed, 
over  which  the  breath  of  prayer  can  exert  as  little  influence, 
as  thoy  move  on  in  their  allotted  course,  as  the  passing  breeze 
of  the  earth  over  the  sun  in  his  circuit.     False  philosophy  has 


WANT    OF    CONFIDENCE    IN    PRAYER.  367 

now  come  to  the  aid  of  guilty  feelings,  and  hardens  their  cold 
waters  into  an  icicle  lying  at  his  very  heart,  cooling  all  his 
ardor,  and  damping  all  his  enthusiasm.  He  looks  back,  at 
times,  no  doubt,  to  the  simple  faith  of  his  childhood  with  a 
sigh ;  but  it  is  as  to  a  pleasing  dream,  or  illusion,  from  which 
he  has  been  awakened,  and  into  which,  the  spell  being  broken, 
he  can  never  again  fall."  —  Method  of  the  Divine  Govern- 
ment, p.  224. 

O,  what  a  change  would  this  world  exhibit,  were  the  whole 
Christian  church  to  exercise  full  faith  in  God's  ability  to  an- 
swer prayer  without  a  miracle,  only  to  the  extent  pointed  out 
by  philosophy,  to  say  nothing  of  the  Bible  ;  for,  in  fact,  a 
large  proportion  of  that  church,  confounded  by  the  specious  ar- 
gument derived  from  nature's  constancy,  have  virtually  yielded 
this  most  important  principle  to  the  demands  of  scepticism. 
When  natural  evils,  such  as  war,  famine,  drought,  and  pesti- 
lence, came  upon  our  forefathers,  they,  taking  the  Bible  for 
their  guide,  observed  days  of  fasting  and  prayer  for  their 
removal.  But  how  seldom  do  their  descendants  follow  their  ex- 
ample !  And  yet  even  physical  science  testifies  that  the  fathers 
icted  in  conformity  to  the  true  principles  of  philosophy. 
Would  that  the  Christian  church  would  consent  to  be  led  back 
to  the  Bible  doctrine  on  this  subject  by  philosophy. 

That  same  philosophy,  also,  should  lead  the  good  man, 
when  struggling  through  difficulties,  to  exercise  unshaken 
confidence  in  the  divine  protection,  even  though  all  nature's 
laws  seem  arrayed  against  him  ;  for  at  the  unseen  touch  of 
God's  efficiency,  the  iron  bars  of  law  shall  melt  away  like 
wax,  and  deliverance  be  given  in  the  midst  of  appalling  dan- 
gers, if  best  for  the  man  and  for  the  universe  ;  and  if  not  best, 
he  will  not  desire  it. 

Science,  too,  bids  the  wicked  man  not  to  fancy  that  the 


368  SPECIAL    AND    MIRACULOUS    PROVIDENCE. 

constancy  of  nature  will  shield  him  from  the  infliction  of 
merited  and  special  punishment,  should  God  choose  to  make 
bare  the  rod  of  his  justice ;  for  the  blow  may  come  as  cer- 
tainly in  the  course  of  nature  as  against  it. 

Let  modern  Christian  theology,  then,  receive  meekly  the  re- 
buke administered  on  this  important  point  by  physical  science. 
For  how  lame  and  halting  a  defence  of  the  Scripture  doctrine 
of  special  providence  and  prayer  has  that  theology  been  able  to 
make  !  How  few  of  our  systems  of  theology  contain  a  man- 
ful vindication  of  truths  so  important !  Let  not  the  Christian 
divine,  therefore,  refuse  the  aid  thus  offered  by  physical  sci- 
ence. Let  him  no  longer  indulge  groundless  jealousies  against 
true  philosophy,  as  if  adverse  to  religion.  Especially  let  him 
not  spurn  the  aid  of  geology,  which  alone,  of  all  the  sciences, 
discloses  stupendous  miracles  of  creation  in  early  times,  and 
thus  removes  all  presumption  against  the  miracles  of  Chris- 
tianity and  special  providence  at  any  time. 

It  is,  indeed,  an  instructive  fact,  that  a  science  which  has 
been  thought  so  full  of  danger  to  Christianity  should  thus 
early  be  found  vindicating  some  of  the  most  peculiar  and 
long-contested  doctrines  of  revelation.  And  yet  it  ought  not 
to  surprise  us,  for  geology  is  as  really  the  work  of  God  as 
revelation.  And  though,  when  ill  understood  and  perverted, 
she  may  have  seemed  recreant  to  her  celestial  origin,  yet  the 
more  fully  her  proportions  are  developed,  and  her  features 
brought  into  daylight,  the  more  clearly  do  we  recognize  her 
alliance  to  every  thing  pure  and  noble  in  the  universe.  "  And 
surely,"  says  a  late  writer,  "  it  must  be  gratifying  thus  to  see 
a  science,  formerly  classed,  and  not  perhaps  unjustly,  amongst 
the  most  pernicious  to  faith,  once  more  become  her  hand- 
maid ;  to  see  her  now,  after  so  many  years  of  wandering  from 
theory  to  theory,  or  rather  from  vision  to  vision,  returij  once 


GEOLOGY   THE    HANDMAID    OF    CHRISTIANITY.  369 

more  to  the  home  where  she  was  born,  and  to  the  altar  at 
which  she  made  her  first  simple  offerings ;  no  longer,  as  she 
first  went  forth,  a  wilful,  dreamy,  empty-handed  child,  but 
with  a  matronly  dignity,  and  a  priest-like  step,  and  a  bosom 
full  of  well-earned  gifts,  to  pile  upon  its  sacred  hearth.  For 
it  was  religion  which  gave  geology  birth,  and  to  the  sanctuary 
she  hath  once  more  returned."  —  Wiseman''s  Lectures  on 
Science  and  Revealed  Religion,  p.  192,  Am.  ed. 


(370) 


LECTURE     XI. 

THE    FUTURE    CONDITION    AND    DESTINY   OF    THE 
EARTH. 

Man  has  a  stronger  desire  to  penetrate  the  future  than  the 
past.  And  yet  the  details  of  most  future  events  are  wisely- 
concealed  from  him.  There  are  two,  and  only  two,  sources 
of  evidence  from  which  he  can  obtain  some  glimpses  of 
what  will  be  hereafter.  The  one  is  revelation,  the  other 
analogy.  So  far  as  God  has  thought  proper  to  reveal  the  fu- 
ture, our  information  is  precise  and  certain.  But  it  does  not 
embrace  a  multitude  of  events  about  which  we  have  strong 
curiosity.  By  analogy  is  meant  a  prediction  of  the  future 
from  the  past.  On  the  principle  that  nature  is  constant,  we 
infer  what  will  be  from  what  has  been.  If,  however,  new 
laws  are  hereafter  to  come  into  operation,  or  if  present  agen- 
cies will  then  operate  very  differently  from  what  they  now 
do,  it  is  obvious  that  analogy  can  be  only  an  imperfect  guide. 
Still,  in  respect  to  many  important  events,  its  conclusions  are 
infallible.  Judging,  for  instance,  from  the  past,  we  are  abso- 
lutely certain  that  no  living  thing  will  escape  the  great 
law  of  dissolution,  which,  thus  far,  apart  from  the  few  ex- 
ceptions made  known  to  us  by  revelation,  has  been  uni- 
versal. 

The  future  changes  in  the  condition  of  the  earth,  as  they 
are  taught  us  by  revelation  and  analogy,  or,  rather,  by  geolo- 
gy, will  form   the  subject  of  my  present  lecture.     And  my 


371 

first  object  will  be,  to  ascertain,  if  possible,  precisely  what 
the  Bible  teaches  us  concerning  these  changes. 

We  find  in  the  Scriptures  several  descriptions,  more  or  less 
definite,  of  the  changes  which  this  globe  will  hereafter  under- 
go. Some  of  them,  however,  are  couched  in  the  figurative 
language  of  prophecy,  and  others  are  incidental  allusions  ; 
and  concerning  the  precise  meaning  of  such  descriptions, 
there  will,  of  course,  be  a  diversity  of  opinion. 

There  are,  however,  some  passages  on  this  subject  as  lit- 
eral and  as  precise  in  their  meaning  as  language  can  be. 
Now,  it  is  one  of  the  rules  for  interpreting  language,  that, 
where  a  work  contains  several  accounts  of  the  same  event, 
the  description  which  is  most  simple  and  literal  ought  to  be 
made  the  index  for  obtaining  the  meaning  of  those  passages 
which  are  figurative,  or,  on  any  account,  obscure.  I  shall, 
therefore,  select  the  passage  of  Scripture  which  all  acknowl- 
edge to  be  most  plain  and  definite,  respecting  the  future  de- 
struction of  the  earth,  and  the  new  heavens  and  earth  that  are 
to  succeed,  and  first  inquire  into  its  precise  meaning;  after 
which,  we  shall  be  better  prepared  to  ascertain  what  modi- 
fication of  that  meaning  other  passages  of  sacred  writ 
demand. 

It  needs  but  a  cursoiy  examination  of  the  Bible  to  convince 
any  one  that  the  description  in  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter 
of  the  future  destruction  and  renovation  of  the  earth  and 
heavens,  is  eminently  the  passage  first  to  be  examined,  be- 
cause the  fullest  and  clearest  on  this  subject.  It  is  the  apos- 
tle's object  directly  and  literally  to  describe  these  great 
changes,  apart  from  all  embellishments  of  language. 

There  shall  come,  says  he,  in  the  last  days,  scoffers,  walk- 
ing after  their  own  lusts,  and  saying,  Where  is  the  promise 
of  his  coming  ?  for  since  the  fathers  fell  asleep,  all  things 


373       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

continue  as  they  were  from  the  beginning  of  the  creation 
For  this  they  willingly  are  ignorant  of  that  hy  the  word  of 
God  the  heavens  were  of  old,  and  the  earth  standing  out  of 
the  water  and  in  the  water  ;  whereby  the  world  that  then 
was^  being  overflowed  with  water ^  perished.  But  the  heavens 
and  the  earth,  which  are  now,  by  the  same  icord  are  kept  in 
store,  reserved  unto  fre^  against  the  day  of  judgment  and 
perdition  of  ungodly  men.  But^  beloved,  be  not  ignorant  of 
this  one  thing,  that  one  day  is  with  the  Lord  as  a  thousand 
years,  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day.  The  Lord  is  not 
slack  concerning  his  promise,  as  some  men  count  slackness, 
but  is  long  suffering  to  us-ward,  not  willing  that  any  should 
perish,  but  that  all  should  come  to  repentance.  But  the  day 
of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief  in  the  night,  in  the  which 
the  heavens  shall  pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  ele- 
ments shall  melt  with  fervent  heat ;  the  earth,  also,  and  the 
works  that  are  therein,  shall  be  burned  up.  Seeing,  then, 
that  all  these  things  shall  be  dissolved,  what  manner  of  per' 
sons  ought  ye  to  be  in  all  holy  conversation  and  godliness  ? 
Looking  for,  and  hasting  unto  the  coming  of  the  day  of  God, 
wherein  the  heavens,  being  on  fire,  shall  be  dissolved,  and  the 
elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat.  Nevertheless,  we,  ac- 
cording to  his  promise,  look  for  new  heavens,  and  a  new 
earth,  7oherein  dwelleth  righteousness. 

It  would  require  too  much  time,  and,  moreover,  is  not 
necessary  to  the  object  I  have  in  view,  to  enter  into  minute 
verbal  criticism  upon  this  passage.  I  will  only  remark  that 
the  phrase  translated  the  earth  and  the  works  that  are  therein, 
might  with  equal  propriety  be  rendered  "  the  earth  and  the 
works  that  are  thereon ; "  and  yet  the  difference  of  meaning 
between  the  two  modes  of  expression  is  of  no  great  impor- 
tance.    Again,  by  the  term  heavens,  in  this  passage,  we  are 


WHAT    DOES    THE    BIBLE    TEACH  ?  373 

evidently  to  understand  the  atmosphere,  or  region  immediate- 
ly surrounding  the  earth ;  as  in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis, 
where  it  is  said  that  God  called  the  firmament  heavens  ;  the 
plural  form  being  used  in  the  Hebrew,  though  not  in  the  Eng- 
lish translation. 

What,  now,  by  a  fair  exegesis,  is  taught  in  this  passage 
concerning  the  destruction  and  renovation  of  the  world  ? 
The  following  train  of  remark  may  conduct  us  to  the  true 
answer  to  this  inquiry  :  — 

In  the  first  place,  this  passage  is  to  be  understood  literally. 
It  would  seem  as  if  it  could  hardly  be  necessary  to  present 
any  formal  proof  of  this  position  to  any  person  of  common 
sense,  who  had  read  the  passage.  But  the  fact  is,  that  men 
of  no  mean  reputation  as  commentators  have  maintained  that 
the  whole  of  it  is  only  a  vivid  figurative  prophecy  of  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem.  Others  suppose  the  new  heavens 
and  new  earth  here  described  to  exist  before  the  conflagration 
of  the  world.  But  these  new  heavens  and  earth  are  repre- 
sented as  the  residence  of  the  righteous,  after  the  burning 
and  melting  of  the  earth,  which,  according  to  other  parts  of 
Scripture,  is  to  take  place  at  the  end  of  the  world,  or  at  the 
general  judgment.  How  strange  that,  in  order  to  sustain  a 
favorite  theory,  able  men  should  thus  invert  the  obvious  order 
of  these  great  events,  so  clearly  described  in  the  Bible  ! 
Still  more  absurd  is  it  to  attempt  to  fasten  a  figurative  charac- 
ter upon  this  most  simple  statement  of  inspiration.  It  is, 
indeed,  true,  that  the  prophets  have  sometimes  set  forth  great 
political  and  moral  changes,  the  downfall  of  empires,  or  of 
distinguished  men,  by  the  destruction  of  the  heavens  and  the 
earth,  and  the  growing  pale  and  darkening  of  the  sun  and 
moon.  But  in  all  these  cases  the  figurative  character  of  the 
xlescription  is  most  obvious ;  while  in  the  passage  from  Peter 
32 


374       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

its  literal  character  is  equally  obvious.  Take,  for  example, 
this  statement — By  the  word  of  God  the  heavens  luere  of 
old,  and  the  earth,  standing  out  of  the  loater  and  in  the  water  ; 
ivherehy  the  world  that  then  was,  being  overflowed  with  ivater, 
perished.  But  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  ivhich  are  now,  hy 
the  same  word  are  kept  in  store,  reserved  unto  fire,  against 
the  day  of  judgment  and  perdition  of  ungodly  men. 

I  believe  no  one  has  ever  doubted  that  the  destruction  of 
the  world  by  water,  here  described,  refers  to  Noah's  deluge. 
Now,  how  absurd  to  admit  that  this  is  a  literal  description  of 
that  event,  and  then  to  maintain  the  remainder  of  the  sen- 
tence, which  declares  the  future  destruction  of  that  same 
world  by  fire,  to  be  figurative  in  the  highest  degree  !  For  if 
this  destruction  mean  only  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  or 
any  other  great  political  or  moral  revolution,  the  language  is 
one  of  the  boldest  figures  which  can  be  framed.  Who,  that 
knows  any  thing  of  the  laws  of  language,  does  not  see  the 
supreme  absurdity  of  thus  coupling  in  the  same  sentence  the 
most  simple  and  certain  literality  with  the  strongest  of  all 
figures  }  What  mark  is  given  us,  by  which  we  may  know 
where  the  boundary  is  between  the  literal  and  the  metaphor- 
ical sense }  From  what  part  of  the  Bible,  or  from  what  un- 
inspired author,  can  a  parallel  example  be  adduced  }  What 
but  the  strongest  necessity,  the  most  decided  exigentia  loci, 
would  justify  such  an  anomalous  interpretation  of  any  author  } 
Nay,  I  do  not  believe  any  necessity  could  justify  it.  It  would 
be  more  reasonable  to  infer  that  the  passage  had  no  meaning, 
or  an  absurd  one.  But  surely  no  such  necessity  exists  in  the 
present  case.  Understood  literally,  the  passage  teaches  only 
what  is  often  expressed,  though  less  fully,  in  many  other 
parts  of  Scripture  ;  and  even  though  some  of  these  other 
passages  should  be  involved  in  a  degree  of  obscurity, —  and 


THE  world's  destruction.  375 

I  am  not  disposed  to  deny  that  some  obscurity  rests  upon  one 
or  two  of  them,  —  it  would  be  no  good  reason  for  transform- 
ing so  plain  a  description  into  a  highly-wrought  figurative 
representation ;  especially  when  by  no  ingenuity  can  we 
thus  alter  more  than  one  part  of  the  sentence.  1  conclude, 
therefore,  that,  if  any  part  of  the  Bible  is  literal,  we  are  thus 
to  consider  this  chapter  of  Peter. 

In  the  second  place,  this  passage  does  not  teach  that  the 
earth  will  be  annihilated. 

The  prevailing  opinion  in  this  country,  probably,  has  been, 
and  still  is,  that  the  destruction  of  the  world  described  by 
Peter  will  amount  to  annihilation  —  that  the  matter  of  the 
globe  will  cease  to  be.  But  in  all  ages  there  have  been  many 
who  believe  that  the  destruction  will  be  only  the  ruin  of  the 
present  economy  of  the  world,  but  not  its  utter  extinction. 
And  surely  Peter's  description  does  not  imply  annihilation  of 
the  matter  of  the  globe.  He  makes  fire  the  agent  of  the  de- 
struction, and,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  extent  of  the  ruin  that 
will  follow,  we  have  only  to  inquire  what  effect  combustion 
will  have  upon  matter.  The  common  opinion  is,  that  intense 
combustion  actually  destroys  or  annihilates  matter,  because  it 
is  thereby  dissipated.  But  the  chemist  knows  that  not  one 
particle  of  matter  has  ever  been  thus  deprived  of  existence  ; 
tha^t  fire  only  changes  the  form  of  matter,  but  never  annihilates 
it.  When  solid  matter  is  changed  into  gas,  as  in  most  cases 
of  combustion,  it  seems  to  be  annihilated,  because  it  disap- 
pears ;  but  it  has  only  assumed  a  new  form,  and  exists  as 
really  as  before.  Since,  therefore,  biblical  and  scientific 
truth  must  agree,  we  may  be  sure  that  the  apostle  never 
meant  to  teach  that  the  matter  of  the  globe  would  cease  to 
be,  through  the  action  of  fire  upon  it ;  nor  is  there  any  thing 
in  his  language  that  implies  such  a  result,  but  most  obviously 
the  reverse. 


376       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

If  these  things  be  so,  then,  in  the  third  place,  we  may  infer 
that  Peter  did  not  mean  to  teach  that  the  matter  of  the  globe 
would  be  in  the  least  diminished  by  the  final  conflagration. 
I  doubt  not  the  sufficiency  of  divine  power  partially  or  wholly 
to  annihilate  the  material  universe.  But  heat,  however  in- 
tense, has  no  tendency  to  do  this ;  it  only  gives  matter  a  new 
form.  And  heat  is  the  only  agency  which  the  apostle  repre- 
sents as  employed.  In  short,  we  have  no  evidence,  either 
from  science  or  revelation,  that  the  minutest  atom  of  matter 
has  ever  been  destroyed  since  the  original  creation  ;  nor  have 
we  any  more  evidence  that  any  of  it  ever  will  be  reduced  to 
the  nothingness  from  which  it  sprang.  The  prevalent  ideas 
upon  this  subject  all  result  from  erroneous  notions  of  the  effect 
of  intense  heat. 

In  the  fourth  place,  the  passage  under  consideration  teaches 
us  that  whatever  upon  or  within  the  earth  is  capable  of  com- 
bustion will  undergo  that  change,  and  that  the  entire  globe 
will  be  melted. 

The  language  of  Peter  has  always  seemed  to  me  extreme- 
ly interesting.  He  says  that  the  heavens  [or  atmosphere]  icill 
pass  aivay  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with 
fervent  heat ;  the  earth,  also,  and  the  works  that  are  therein, 
shall  he  burned  up ;  looking  for,  arid  hasting  unto  the  com- 
ing of  the  day  of  God,  wherein  the  heavens,  being  on  fire, 
shall  be  dissolved,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  ivith  fervent 
heat. 

This  language  approaches  nearer  to  an  anticipation  of  the 
scientific  discoveries  of  modern  times  than  any  other  part  of 
Scripture.  And  yet,  at  the  time  it  was  written,  it  would  not 
have  enabled  any  one  to  understand  the  chemistry  of  the 
great  changes  which  it  describes.  But,  nov/  that  their  chem- 
istry is  understood,  we  perceive  that  the  language  is  adapted 


Peter's  Accoursx.  377 

to  it,  ill  a  manner  which  no  uninspired  writer  would  have 
done.  The  atmosphere  is  represented  as  passing  away  with 
a  great  noise  —  an  effect  which  the  chemist  would  predict  by 
the  union  of  its  oxygen  with  the  hydrogen  and  other  gases 
liberated  by  the  intense  heat.  Yet  what  uninspired  writer  of 
the  first  century  would  have  imagined  such  a  result  ? 
■  Again,  when  we  consider  the  notions  which  then  prevailed, 
and  which  are  still  widely  diffused,  why  should  the  apostle  add 
to  the  simple  statement  that  the  earth  would  be  burnt  up,  the 
declaration  that  its  elements  would  be  melted  ?  For  the  im- 
pression was,  that  the  combustion  would  entirely  destroy  the 
matter  of  the  globe.  But  the  chemist  finds  that  the  greater 
part  of  the  earth  has  already  been  oxidized,  or  burnt,  and  on 
this  matter  the  only  effect  of  the  heat,  unless  intense  enough 
to  dissipate  it,  would  be  to  melt  it.  If,  therefore,  the  apostle 
had  said  only  that  the  world  would  be  burnt  up,  the  scepti- 
cal chemist  would  have  inferred  that  he  had  made  a  mistake 
through  ignorance  of  chemistry.  But  he  cannot  now  draw 
such  an  inference  ;  for  the  apostle's  language  clearly  implies 
that  only  the  combustible  matter  of  the  globe  will  be  burnt, 
while  the  elements,  or  first  principles  of  things,  will  be  melt- 
ed ;  so  that  the  final  result  will  be  an  entire  liquid,  fiery 
globe.  Such  a  wonderful  adaptation  of  his  description  to 
modern  science  could  not  surely  have  resulted  from  human 
sagacity,  but  must  be  the  fruit  of  divine  inspiration. 

And  this  adaptation  is  the  more  wonderful  when  we  find  it 
running  through  the  whole  Bible  wherever  the  sacred  writers 
come  in  contact  with  scientific  subjects.  In  this  respect,  the 
Bible  differs  from  every  other  system  of  religion  professedly 
from  heaven. 

Whenever  other  systems  have   treated   of   the  works  of 
nature,  they  have  sanctioned  some  error,  and  thus  put  into 
32* 


378       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

the  hands  of  modern  science  the  means  of  detecting  the 
imposture.  The  Vedas  of  India  adopt  the  absurd  notions 
of  an  ignorant  and  polytheistic  age  respecting  astronomy, 
and  the  Koran  adopts  as  infalUble  truth  the  absurdities  of  the 
Ptolemaic  system.  But  hitherto  the  Bible  has  never  been 
proved  to  come  into  collision  with  any  scientific  discovery, 
although  many  of  its  books  were  written  in  the  rudest  and 
most  ignorant  ages.  It  does  not,  indeed,  anticipate  scientific 
discovery.  But  the  remarkable  adaptation  of  its  language  to 
such  discoveries,  when  they  are  made,  seems  to  me  a  more 
striking  mark  of  its  divine  origin  than  if  it  had  contained  a 
revelation  of  the  whole  system  of  modern  science. 

In  the  fifth  place,  the  passage  under  consideration  teaches 
that  this  earth  will  be  renovated  by  the  final  conflagration, 
and  become  the  abode  of  the  righteous.  After  describing 
the  day  of  God,  wherein  the  heavens,  being  on  fire,  shall  he 
dissolved^  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with  fervent  heat,  Peter 
adds.  Nevertheless,  we,  according  to  his  promise,  look  for 
new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness. Now,  the  apostle  does  not  here,  in  so  many  words,  de- 
clare that  the  new  heavens  and  earth  will  be  the  present 
world  and  its  atmosphere,  purified  and  renovated  by  fire. 
But  it  is  certainly  a  natural  inference  that  such  was  his 
meaning.  For  if  he  intended  some  other  remote  and  quite 
different  place,  why  should  he  call  it  earth,  and,  especially, 
why  should  he  surround  it  with  an  atmosphere  ?  The  nat- 
ural and  most  obvious  meaning  of  the  passage  surely  is,  that 
the  future  residence  of  the  righteous  will  be  this  present  ter- 
raqueous globe,  after  its  entire  organic  and  combustible  matter 
shall  have  been  destroyed,  and  its  whole  mass  reduced  by 
heat  to  a  liquid  state,  and  then  a  new  economy  reared  up  on 
its  surface,  not  adapted   to  sinful,  but  to  sinless  beings,  and. 


OTHER  PASSAGES  OF  SCRIPTURE.  379 

therefore,  quite  different  from  its  present  condition  —  probably 
more  perfect,  but  still  the  same  earth  and  surrounding  heavens. 

There  are,  indeed,  some  difficulties  in  the  way  of  such  a 
meaning  to  this  passage,  and  objections  to  a  material  heaven  ; 
and  these  I  shall  notice  in  the  proper  place.  But  I  have 
given  what  seems  to  me  the  natural  and  obvious  meaning  of 
the  passage. 

Such,  as  I  conceive,  are  the  fair  inferences  from  the  apos- 
tle's description  of  the  end  of  the  world.  Let  us  now  inquire 
whether  any  other  passages  of  Scripture  require  us  to  modify 
this  meaning. 

The  idea  of  a  future  destruction  of  the  world  by  fire  is 
recognized  in  various  places,  both  in  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments. Christ  speaks  more  than  once  of  heaven  and  earth 
as  passing  away.  Paul  speaks  of  Christ  as  descending,  at  the 
end  of  the  world,  in  flaming  fire.  And  the  Psalmist  describes 
the  destruction  of  the  heavens  and  the  earth  as  a  renovation. 
They  shall  perish^  says  he,  hut  thou  [God]  shalt  endure  ;  yea, 
all  of  them  shall  wax  old  like  a  garment,  and  as  a  vesture 
shalt  thou  change  them,  and  they  shall  he  changed.  In  Reve- 
lation, after  the  apostle  had  given  a  vivid  description  of  the 
final  judgment  and  its  retributions,  he  says,  And  I  saw  a  new 
heaven  and  a  new  earth  ;  for  the  first  heaven  and  the  first 
earth  were  passed  away,  and  there  was  no  more  sea.  He  then 
proceeds  to  give  a  minute  and  glowing  description  of  what 
he  calls  the  New  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God,  out  of 
heaven.  It  is  scarcely  possible  to  understand  the  whole  of 
this  description  as  literally  true.  We  must  rather  regard  it 
as  a  figurative  representation  of  the  heavenly  state.  And  hence 
the  first  verse,  which  speaks  of  the  new  heavens  and  the  new 
earth,  in  almost  the  same  language  which  Peter  uses,  may 
be  also  figurative,  indicating  merely  a  more  exalted  condition 


380       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

than  the  present  world.  Hence,  I  would  not  use  this  passage 
to  sustain  the  interpretation  given  of  the  literal  description  by 
Peter.  And  yet  it  is  by  no  means  improbable  that  the  figu- 
rative language  of  John  may  have  for  its  basis  the  same  truths 
which  are  taught  by  Peter.  Nor  ought  we  to  infer,  because 
a  figure  is  built  upon  that  basis  in  the  apocalyptic  vision,  that 
the  simple  statements  of  Peter  are  metaphorical. 

In  the  passage  quoted  from  Peter,  it  is  said.  Nevertheless, 
we^  according  to  his  promise,  look  for  new  heavens  and  a  new 
earthy  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness.  Most  writers  have 
supposed  the  apostle  to  refer  either  to  the  promise  made  to 
Abraham,  that  his  seed  should  inherit  the  land,  or  to  a  proph- 
ecy in  Isaiah,  which  says.  Behold.,  I  create  new  heavens.,  and  a 
new  earth.,  and  the  former  shcdl  not  be  rememhered.,  or  come 
into  mind.  But  be  you  glad  and  rejoice  forever  in  that  which 
I  create  ;  for  behold,  I  create  Jerusalem  a  rejoicing.,  and  her 
-people  a  joy.  And  I  will  rejoice  in  Jerusalem.,  and  joy  in  my 
people;  and  the  voice  of  weeping  shall  be  no  more  heard  in 
her.,  nor  tJie  voice  of  crying.  There  shall  be  no  more  thence 
an  infant  of  days,  nor  an  old  man  that  hath  not  filled  his 
days ;  for  the  child  shall  die  a  hundred  years  old ;  but  the 
sinner,  being  a  hundred  years  old,  shall  be  accursed.  And 
they  shall  build  houses,  and  inhabit  them ;  and  they  shall 
plant  vineyards,  and  eat  the  fruit  of  them.  They  shall  not 
build,  and  another  inhabit ;  they  shall  not  plant,  and  another 
eat ;  for  as  the  days  of  a  tree  are  the  days  of  my  people,  and 
mine  elect  shall  long  enjoy  the  works  of  their  hands.  The 
wolf  and  the  lamb  shall  feed  together,  and  the  lion  shall  eat 

straw  like  the  bullock ;  and  dust  shall  be  the  serpent's  meat. 

They  shall  not  hurt  nor  destroy  in  all  my  holy  mountain, 

saith  the  Lord. 

Now,  It  seems  highly  probable  that  the   new  heavens  and 


Peter's  description  interpreted.  381 

earth,  here  described,  represent  a  state  of  things  on  the  pres- 
ent earth  before  the  day  of  judgment,  and  not  a  heavenly 
and  immortal  state  ;  for  sin  and  death  are  spoken  of  as 
existing  in  it ;  both  which,  we  are  assured,  will  be  excluded 
from  heaven.  Hence  able  biblical  writers  refer  this  prophecy 
to  the  millennial  state,  or  the  period  when  there  will  be  a 
general  prevalence  of  Christianity.  In  this  they  are  probably 
correct.  But  some  of  these  writers,  as  Low  and  Whitby, 
proceed  a  step  farther,  and  infer  that  Peter's  description  of 
the  new  heavens  and  new  earth  belong  also  to  the  millennial 
period  ;  first,  because  they  presume  that  the  apostle  referred 
to  this  promise  in  Isaiah ;  and  secondly,  because  he  uses  the 
same  terms,  namely,  "  new  heavens  and  new  earth."  But  are 
these  grounds  sufficient  to  justify  so  important  a  conclusion  ? 
How  common  it  is  to  find  the  same  words  and  phrases  in 
the  Bible  applied  by  different  writers  to  different  subjects, 
especially  by  the  prophets  !  Even  if  we  can  suppose  Peter  to 
place  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth  before  the  judg- 
ment, in  despite  of  his  plain  declaration  to  the  contrary,  yet 
there  are  few  who  will  doubt  that  the  new  heavens  and  earth 
described  in  revelation  are  subsequent  to  the  judgment  day, 
so  vividly  described  in  the  verses  immediately  preceding. 

And  as  to  the  promise  referred  to  by  Peter,  if  he  really 
describes  the  heavenly  state,  surely  it  may  he  found  in  a  mul- 
titude of  places  ;  wherever,  indeed,  immortal  life  and  bless- 
edness are  offered  to  faith  and  obedience.  Isaiah,  therefore, 
may  be  giving  a  figurative  description  of  a  glorious  state  of 
the  church  in  this  world,  under  the  terms  "  new  heavens  and 
new  earth,"  emblematical  of  those  real  new  heavens  and  new 
earth  beyond  the  grave,  described  by  Peter.  And  hence, 
it  seems  to  me,  the  language  of  the  prophet  should  not  be  al- 
lowed to  set  aside,  or  modify,  the  plain  meaning  of  the  apostle. 


382       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

I  shall  quote  only  one  other  passage  of  the  Bible  on  this 
subject.  I  refer  to  that  difficult  text  in  Romans,  which  repre- 
sents the  whole  creation  as  groaning  and  travailing  together 
in  pain  until  now  ;  and  that  it  will  be  delivered  from  the 
bondage  of  corruption  into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children 
of  God. 

I  have  stated  in  a  former  lecture,  that  Tholuck,  the  distin- 
guished German  theologian,  considers  this  a  description  of 
the  present  bound  and  fettered  condition  of  all  nature,  and 
that  the  deliverance  refers  to  the  future  renovation  of  the 
earth.  Such  an  exposition  chimes  in  perfectly  with  the  views 
on  this  subject  which  have  long  and  extensively  prevailed  in 
Germany.  And  it  certainly  does  give  a  consistent  meaning  to 
a  passage  which  has  been  to  commentators  a  perfect  labyrinth 
of  difficulties.  If  this  be  not  its  meaning,  then  I  may  safely 
say  that  its  meaning  has  not  yet  been  found  out. 

In  view,  then,  of  all  the  important  passages  of  Scripture 
concerning  the  future  destruction  and  renovation  of  the  earth, 
I  think  we  may  fairly  conclude  that  none  of  them  require  us 
to  modify  the  natural  and  obvious  meaning  of  Peter  which 
has  been  given.  In  general,  they  all  coincide  with  the  views 
presented  by  that  apostle ;  or  if,  in  any  case,  there  is  a  slight 
apparent  difference,  the  figurative  character  of  all  other  state- 
ments besides  his  require  us  to  receive  his  views  as  the  true 
standard,  and  to  modify  the  meaning  of  the  others.  We  may, 
therefore,  conclude  that  the  Bible  does  plainly  and  distinctly 
teach  us  that  this  earth  will  hereafter  be  burned  up  ;  in  other 
words,  that  all  upon  or  within  it,  capable  of  combustion,  will 
be  consumed,  and  the  entire  mass,  the  elements,  without  the 
loss  of  one  particle  of  the  matter  now  existing,  will  be  melted  ; 
and  then,  that  the  world,  thus  purified  from  the  contamina- 
tion of  sin,  and  surrounded  by  a  new  atmosphere,  or  heavens, 


THE  CATACLYSM  AND  ECPYROSIS.  383 

and  adapted  in  all  respects  to  the  nature  and  wants  of  spiritual 
and  sinless  beings,  will  become  the  residence  of  the  righteous. 
Of  the  precise  nature  of  that  new  dispensation,  and  of  the 
mode  of  existence  there,  the  Scriptures  are  indeed  silent. 
But  that,  like  the  present  world,  it  will  be  material,  —  that  there 
will  be  a  solid  globe,  and  a  transparent  expanse  around  it, 
—  seems  most  clearly  indicated  in  the  sacred  record. 

Tlje  wide-spread  opinion  that  heaven  will  be  a  sort  of  airy 
Elysium,  where  the  present  laws  of  nature  will  be  unknown, 
and  where  matter,  if  it  exist,  can  exist  only  in  its  most  atten- 
uated form,  is  a  notion  to  which  the  Bible  is  a  stranger. 

The  resurrection  of  the  body,  as  well  as  the  language  of 
Peter,  most  clearly  show  us  that  the  future  world  will  be  a 
solid,  material  world,  purified  indeed,  and  beautified,  but 
retaining  its  materialism. 

Let  us  now  see  whether,  in  coming  to  these  conclusions 
from  Scripture  language,  we  are  influenced  by  scientific  con- 
siderations, or  whether  many  discerning  minds  have  not,  in 
all  ages,  attached  a  similar  meaning  to  the  inspired  record. 

Among  all  nations,  the  history  of  whose  opinions  have  come 
down  to  us,  and  especially  among  the  Greeks,  the  belief  has 
prevailed  that  a  catastrophe  by  fire  awaited  the  earth,  corre- 
sponding to,  or  rather  the  counterpart  of,  a  previous  destruc- 
tion by  water.  These  catastrophes  they  denominated  the 
cataclysm,  or  destruction  by  water,  and  the  ecpyrosis,  or 
destruction  by  fire.  The  ruin  was  supposed  to  be  followed, 
in  each  case,  by  the  regeneration  of  the  earth  in  an  improved 
form,  which  gradually  deteriorated  ;  the  first  age  after  the 
catastrophe,  constituting  the  golden  age  ;  the  next,  the  silver 
age  ;  and  so  on  to  the  iron  age,  which  preceded  another  cata- 
clysm, or  ec pyrosis.  The  intervals  between  these  convulsions 
were  regarded  as  of  various  lengths,  but  all  of  them  of  great 
duration. 


384       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

These  opinions  the  Greeks  derived  from  the  Egyptians. 

The  belief  in  the  future  conflagration  of  the  world  also 
prevailed  among  the  ancient  Jews.  Philo  says  that  "  the 
earth,  after  this  purification,  shall  appear  new  again,  even  as 
it  was  after  its  first  creation." — De  Vita  Mosis,  tom.  ii. — 
Among  the  Jews,  these  ideas  may  have  been,  in  part,  derived 
from  the  Old  Testament ;  though  its  language,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  far  less  explicit  on  this  subject  than  the  New  T.esta- 
ment.  That  distinguished  Christian  writers,  in  all  ages  since 
the  advent  of  Christ,  have  understood  the  language  of  Peter 
as  we  have  explained  it,  would  be  easy  to  show.  I  have 
room,  however,  to  quote  only  the  opinions  of  a  few  distin- 
guished modern  writers. 

Dr.  Knapp,  one  of  the  most  scientific  and  judicious  of  the- 
ologians, thus  remarks  upon  the  passage  of  Peter  already 
examined :  "  It  cannot  be  thought  that  what  is  here  said  re- 
specting the  burning  of  the  world  is  to  be  understood  figura- 
tively, as  Wettstein  supposes  ;  because  the  fire  is  here  too 
directly  opposed  to  the  literal  water  of  the  flood  to  be  so 
understood.  It  is  the  object  of  Peter  to  refute  the  boast  of 
scoffers,  that  all  things  had  remained  unchanged  from  the 
beginning,  and  that,  therefore,  no  day  of  judgment  and  no 
end  of  the  world  could  be  expected.  And  so  he  says  that 
originally,  at  the  time  of  the  creation,  the  whole  earth  was 
covered  and  overflowed  with  water,  (Gen.  i.,)  and  that  from 
hence  the  dry  land  appeared  ;  and  the  same  was  true  at  the 
time  of  Noah's  flood.  But  there  is  yet  to  come  a  great  fire 
revolution.  The  heavens  and  the  earth  (the  earth  with  its 
atmosphere)  are  reserved,  or  kept  in  store,  for  the  fire,  until 
the  day  of  judgment,  (v.  10.)  At  that  time  the  heavens  will 
pass  away  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  will  be  dis- 
solved by  fervent  heat,  and  every  thing  upon  the  earth  will 


DR.  Chalmers's  views.  385 

be  burnt  up.  The  same  thing  is  taught  in  verse  12.  But  in 
verse  13  Peter  gives  the  design  of  this  revolution.  It  will  not 
be  anniliilation,  but  we  expect  a  new  heavens  and  a  new 
earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness,  i.  e.,  an  entirely  new, 
altered,  and  heautiful  abode  for  man,  to  be  built  from  the 
ruins  of  his  former  dwelling-place,  as  the  future  habitation  of 
the  pious,  (Rev.  xxi.  1.)  This  will  be  very  much  in  the  same 
way  as  a  more  perfect  and  an  immortal  body  will  be  reared 
from  the  body  which  we  now  possess."  —  Theology^  vol.  ii. 
p.  649. 

From  Dr.  Chalmers  my  extracts  will  be  longer  than  are 
necessary  to  show  his  opinion  upon  this  subject,  because  he 
felicitously  refutes  certain  erroneous  ideas,  widely  prevalent, 
respecting  matter  and  spirit.  "  We  know  historically,"  says 
he,  "  that  earth,  that  a  solid,  material  earth,  may  form  the 
dwelling  of  sinless  creatures,  in  full  converse  and  friendship 
with  the  Being  who  made  them."  "  Man,  at  the  first,  had  for 
his  place  this  world,  and,  at  the  same  time,  for  his  privilege 
an  unclouded  fellowship  with  God,  and  for  his  prospect  an 
immortality,  which  death  was  neither  to  intercept  nor  put  an 
end  to.  He  was  terrestrial  in  respect  to  condition,  and  yet 
celestial,  both  in  respect  of  character  and  enjoyments. 

"  The  common  imagination  that  we  have  of  paradise  on 
the  other  side  of  death,  is  that  of  a  lofty  aerial  region,  where 
the  inmates  float  in  ether,  or  are  mysteriously  suspended 
upon  nothing;  where  all  the  warm  and  sensible  accompani- 
ments, which  give  such  an  expression  of  strength,  and  life, 
and  coloring  to  our  present  habitation,  are  attenuated  into  a 
sort  of  spiritual  element,  that  is  meagre  and  imperceptible, 
and  utterly  uninviting  to  the  eye  of  mortals  here  below ; 
where  every  vestige  of  materialism  is  done  away,ahd  nothing 
left  but  certain  unearthly  scenes,  that  have  no  power  of 
33 


386       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

allurement,  and  certain  unearthly  ecstasies  with  which  it  is 
felt  impossible  to  sympathize.  The  holders  of  this  imagina- 
tion forget  all  the  while  that  there  is  no  necessary  connection 
between  materialism  and  sin  ;  that  the  world  which  we  now 
inhabit  had  all  the  solidity  and  amplitude  of  its  present  mate- 
rialism before  sin  entered  into  it ;  that  God,  so  far,  on  that 
account,  from  looking  slightly  upon  it,  after  it  had  received 
the  last  touch  of  his  creating  hand,  reviewed  the  earth,  and 
the  waters,  and  the  firmament,  and  all  the  green  herbage, 
with  the  living  creatures,  and  the  man  whom  he  had  raised  in 
dominion  over  them,  and  he  saw  every  thing  that  he  had 
made,  and  behold,  it  was  all  very  good.  They  forget  that,  on 
the  birth  of  materialism,  when  it  stood  out  in  the  freshness 
of  those  glories  which  the  great  Architect  of  nature  had  im- 
pressed upon  it,  that  the  morning  starts  sang  together,  and  all 
the  sons  of  God  shouted  for  joy.  They  forget  the  appeals 
that  are  every  where  made  in  the  Bible  to  his  material  work- 
manship, and  how,  from  the  face  of  these  visible  heavens, 
and  the  garniture  of  this  earth  which  we  tread  upon,  the 
greatness  and  goodness  of  God  are  reflected  on  the  view  of 
his  worshippers.  No,  my  brethren,  the  object  of  the  admin- 
istration we  sit  under  is  to  extirpate  sin,  but  it  is  not  to  sweep 
away  materialism.  By  the  convulsions  of  the  last  day  it  may 
be  shaken  and  broken  down  from  its  present  arrangement, 
and  thrown  into  such  fitful  agitations  as  that  the  whole  of  its 
existing  framework  shall  fall  to  pieces ;  and  with  a  heat  so 
fervent  as  to  melt  the  most  solid  elements,  may  it  be  utterly 
dissolved.  And  thus  may  the  earth  again  become  without 
form  and  void,  but  without  one  particle  of  its  substance  going 
into  annihilation.  Out  of  the  ruins  of  this  second  chaos  may 
another  Heaven  and  another  earth  be  made  to  arise,  and  a 
new   materialism,  with  other   aspects  of   magnificence   and 


tholuck's  views.  387 

beauty,  emerge  from  the  wreck  of  this  mighty  transforma- 
tion, and  the  world  be  peopled,  as  before,  with  the  varieties  of 
material  loveliness,  and  space  be  again  lighted  up  into  a  fir- 
mament of  material  splendor. 

"  It  is,  indeed,  a  homage  to  that  materialism,  which  many 
are  for  expunging  from  the  future  state  of  the  universe  alto- 
gether, that,  ere  the  immaterial  soul  of  man  has  reached  the 
ultimate  glory  and  blessedness  designed  for  it,  it  must  return 
and  knock  at  the  very  grave  where  lie  the  mouldered  remains 
of  the  body  which  it  wore,  and  there  inquisition  must  be 
made  for  the  flesh,  and  the  sinews,  and  the  bones  which  the 
power  of  corruption  has,  perhaps  centuries  before,  assimilated 
to  the  earth  around  them,  and  then  the  minute  atoms  must  be 
reassembled  into  a  structure  that  bears  upon  it  the  form,  and 
lineaments,  and  general  aspect  of  a  man,  and  the  soul 
passes  into  this  material  framework,  which  is  hereafter  to  be 
its  lodging-place  forever  ;  and  that  not  as  its  prison,  but  as  its 
pleasant  and  befitting  habitation ;  not  to  be  trammelled,  as 
some  would  have  it,  in  a  hold  of  materialism,  but  to  be 
therein  equipped  for  the  services  of  eternity ;  to  walk  em- 
bodied among  the  bowers  of  our  second  paradise  ;  to  stand 
embodied  in  the  presence  of  our  God." 

"  The  glorification  of  the  visible  creation,"  says  Tholuck, 
the  distinguished  German  divine,  "is  more  definitely  declared 
in  Rev.  xxi.  1,  although  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  a 
prophetic  vision  is  there  described.  Still  more  definitely  do 
we  find  the  belief  of  a  transformation  of  the  material  world 
declared  in  2  Peter,  iii.  7-12.  The  idea  that  the  perfected 
kingdom  of  Christ  is  to  be  transferred  to  heaven,  is  properly 
a  modern  notion.  According  to  Paul  and  the  Revelation  of 
John,  the  kingdom  of  God  is  placed  upon  the  earth,  in  so  far 
as  this  itself  has  part  in  the  universal  transformation.     This 


388       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

exposition  has  been  adopted  and  defended  by  most  of  the 
oldest  commentators ;  e.  g.,  Chrysostom,  Theodoret,  Hieron- 
ymus,  Augustine,  Luther,  Koppe,  and  others.  Luther  says, 
in  his  Hvely  way,  '  God  will  make,  not  the  earth  only,  but  the 
heavens  also,  much  more  beautiful  than  they  are  at  present. 
At  present,  we  see  the  world  in  its  working  clothes  ;  but 
hereafter  it  will  be  arrayed  in  its  Easter  and  Whitsuntide 
robes.'  " 

"  I  cannot  but  feel  astonishment,"  says  Dr.  John  Pye 
Smith,  "  that  any  serious  and  intelligent  man  should  have  his 
mind  fettered  with  the  common,  I  might  call  it  the  vulgar, 
notion  of  a  proper  destruction  of  the  earth  ;  and  some  seem 
to  extend  the  notion  to  the  whole  solar  system,  and  even  the 
entire  material  universe  ;  applying  the  idea  of  an  extinction 
of  being,  a  reducing  to  nothingness.  This  notion  has,  in- 
deed, been  often  used  to  aid  impassioned  description  in  ser- 
mons and  pOetry  ;  and  thus  it  has  gained  so  strong  a  hold 
upon  the  feelings  of  many  pious  persons,  that  they  have  made 
it  an  article  of  their  faith.  But  I  confess  myself  unable  to 
find  any  evidence  for  it  in  nature,  reason,  or  Scripture.  We 
can  discover  nothing  like  destruction  in  the  matter  of  the 
universe  as  subjected  to  our  senses.  Masses  are  disintegrat- 
ed, forms  are  changed,  compounds  are  decomposed  ;  but  not 
an  atom  is  annihilated.  Neither  have  we  the  shadow  of  rea- 
son to  assert  that  mind,  the  seat  of  intelligence,  ever  was,  or 
ever  will  be,  in  a  single  instance,  destroyed.  The  declaration 
in  Scripture  that  the  heavens  and  the  earth  shall  fiee  aiuay,  and 
no  more  place  he  found  for  them,  is  undoubtedly  figurative, 
and  denotes  the  most  momentous  changes  in  the  scenes  of  the 
divine  moral  government.  If  it  be  the  purpose  of  God  that 
the  earth  shall  be  subjected  to  a  total  conflagration,  we  per- 
fectly well  know  that  the  instruments  of  such  an  event  lie 


DR.  griffin's  views.  389 

close  at  hand,  and  wait  only  the  divine  volition  to  burst  out  in 
a  moment.  But  that  would  not  be  a  destruction  ;  it  would  be 
a  mere  change  of  form,  and,  no  doubt,  would  be  subservient 
to  the  most  glorious  results.  We,  according  to  his  promise, 
look  for  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  right- 
eousnessy  —  Lectures  on  Geology  and  Revelation,  p.  161, 
(4th  London  edition.) 

Says  Dr.  Griffin,  one  of  the  ablest  of  the  American  divines, 
"  A  question  here  arises,  whether  the  new  heavens  and  new 
earth  will  be  created  out  of  the  ruins  of  the  old ;  that  is, 
whether  the  old  will  be  renovated  and  restored  in  a  more 
glorious  form,  or  whether  the  old  will  be  annihilated,  and  the 
new  made  out  of  nothing.  The  idea  of  the  annihilation  of 
so  many  immense  and  glorious  bodies,  organized  with  inim- 
itable skill,  and  declarative  of  infinite  wisdom,  is  gloomy  and 
forbidding.  Indeed,  it  is  scarcely  credible  that  God  should 
annihilate  any  of  his  works,  much  less  so  many  and  so  glori- 
ous works.  It  ought  not  to  be  believed  without  the  most  de- 
cisive proof.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  most  animating 
thought  that  this  visible  creation,  which  sin  has  marred, 
which  the  poU-uted  breath  of  men  and  devils  has  defiled,  and 
which  by  sin  will  be  reduced  to  utter  ruin,  will  be  restored 
by  our  Jesus,  will  arise  from  its  ruins  in  tenfold  splendor,  and 
shine  with  more  illustrious  glory  than  before  it  was  defaced 
by  sin. 

"  After  a  laborious  and  anxious  search  on  this  interesting 
subject,  I  must  pronounce  the  latter  to  be  my  decided  opin- 
ion. And  the  same,  I  find,  has  been  the  more  common  opin- 
ion of  the  Christian  fathers,  of  the  divines  of  the  reforma- 
tion, and  of  the  critics  and  annotators  who  have  since 
flourished.  I  could  produce  on  this  side  a  catalogue  of 
names  which  would  convince  you  that  this  has  certainly  been 
33* 


390       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

the  common  opinion  of  the  Christian  church  in  every  age,  as 
it  was  also  of  the  Jewish. 

"  The  words  which  are  employed  to  express  the  destruction 
of  the  world  do  not  necessarily  imply  annihilation.  Is  it  said 
that  the  world  shall  perish  ?  The  same  word  is  used  to  ex- 
press the  ancient  destruction  of  the  world  by  the  flood,  when 
certainly  it  was  not  annihilated.  Is  it  said  that  the  world 
shall  have  an  end,  and  be  no  more  ?  This  may  be  under- 
stood only  of  the  present  form  and  organization  of  the  visi- 
ble system  ?  Is  it  said  that  the  heavens  and  the  earth  shall 
be  dissolved  by  fire  ?  But  the  natural  power  of  fire  is  not  to 
annihilate,  but  only  to  dissolve  the  composition  and  change 
the  form  of  substances."  —  Sermons^  vol.  ii.  p.  450. 

We  have  now  examined  the  most  important  testimony  re- 
specting the  future  destruction  and  renovation  of  the  earth  ; 
for  inspiration  only  can  certainly  determine  its  future  condi- 
tion. But  science  may  throw  some  light  upon  the  changes 
through  which  it  is  to  pass.  And  I  now  proceed  to  in- 
quire whether  geology  affords  us  any  glimpses  of  its  future 
condition. 

In  the  first  place,  geology  shows  us  that  the  earth  contains 
within  itself  all  the  agencies  necessary  for  its  future  destruc- 
tion in  the  manner  pointed  out  in  the  Bible. 

Some  author  has  remarked  that,  from  the  earliest  times, 
there  has  been  a  loud  cry  of  fire.  We  have  seen  that  it 
began  with  the  ancient  Egyptians,  and  was  continued  by  the 
Greeks.  But  in  recent  times  it  has  waxed  louder  and  far 
more  distinct.  The  ancient  notions  about  the  existence  of 
fire  within  the  earth  were  almost  entirely  conjectural,  but 
within  the  present  century  the  matter  has  been  put  to  the  test 
of  experiment.  Wherever,  in  Europe  and  America,  the 
temperature  of    the  air,  the  waters,  and   the  rocks  in  deep 


INTERNAL    FIRE.  391 

excavations  has  been  ascertained,  it  has  been  found  higher 
than  the  mean  temperature  of  the  climate  at  the  surface  ; 
and  the  experiment  has  been  made  in  hundreds  of  places.  It 
is  found,  too,  that  the  heat  increases  rapidly  as  we  descend 
below  that  point  in  the  earth's  crust  to  which  the  sun's  heat 
extends.  The  mean  rate  of  increase  has  been  stated  by  the 
British  Association  to  be  one  degree  of  Fahrenheit  for  every 
forty-five  feet.  At  this  rate,  all  known  rocks  would  be  melted 
at  the  depth  of  about  sixty  miles.  Shall  we  hence  conclude 
that  all  the  matter  of  the  globe  below  this  thickness  (or, 
rather,  for  the  sake  of  round  numbers,  below  one  hundred 
miles)  is  actually  in  a  melted  state  ?  Most  geologists  have 
not  seen  how  such  a  conclusion  is  to  be  avoided.  And  yet 
this  would  leave  only  about  one  eight  hundredth  part  of  the 
earth's  diameter,  and  about  one  fourteenth  of  its  contents,  or 
bulk,  in  a  solid  state.  How  easy,  then,  should  God  give  per- 
mission, for  this  vast  internal  fiery  ocean  to  break  through  its 
envelope,  and  so  to  bury  the  solid  crust  that  it  should  all  be 
burnt  up  and  melted  !  It  is  conceivable  that  such  a  result 
might  take  place  even  by  natural  operations.  And  certainly 
it  would  be  easy  for  a  special  divine  agency  to  accomplish  it. 
It  may  be  thought,  however,  that  the  igneous  fiuidity  of  the 
internal  part  of  the  globe  is  too  mighty  and  improbable  a 
conclusion  to  be  based  upon  the  increase  of  temperature,  ob- 
served only  to  the  depth  of  two  or  three  thousand  feet.  But 
this  is  not  the  only  evidence  of  such  a  condition  of  the  earth's 
interior.  Three  hundred  active  volcanoes,  and  still  more 
numerous  extinct  ones,  have  opened  their  mouths  and  poured 
forth  their  molten  contents  from  a  great  depth,  to  bear  wit- 
ness to  the  existence  of  vast  masses  of  melted  rock  beneath 
the  earth's  crust.  The  globe,  too,  is  flattened  at  the  poles, 
just  to  the  amount  it  would   be  by  rotation   on   its  axis,  had  it 


392       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

been  a  liquid  mass ;  and,  therefore,  there  is  every  probability 
that  it  was  once  liquid  ;  and  if  so  once,  its  interior  is  proba- 
bly still  so,  because  the  period  for  cooling  it,  when  once  sur- 
rounded by  a  solid  crust,  must  be  incalculably  long.  That 
this  solid  crust  has  once  been  liquid  from  heat,  is  most  obvi- 
ous to  all  who  carefully  examine  it.  For  the  unstratified 
rocks  have  certainly  once  been  melted,  and  most  of  the 
stratified  series  were  derived  from  the  unstratified.  Again, 
the  organic  remains  dug  out  from  the  deep-seated  strata 
prove  that,  when  they  were  alive,  the  surface,  even  in  high 
latitudes,  must  have  been  subject  to  a  tropical,  or  even  an 
ultra-tropical  heat ;  thus  showing  us  that  the  temperature  of 
the  globe  has  gradually  diminished,  as  we  should  expect  from 
the  theory  of  original  igneous  fluidity.  And,  finally,  no  other 
hypothesis  but  the  gradual  cooling  of  the  earth's  crust,  and 
the  powerful  volcanic  agency  that  must  from  time  to  time 
have  torn  and  ridged  up  that  crust,  will  account  for  the  pres- 
ent fractured  and  overturned  condition  of  the  strata,  and  the 
elevation  of  our  continent  from  the  ocean's  bed.  But  this 
supposition  does  most  satisfactorily  explain  all  these  phenom- 
ena, and  also  those  of  earthquakes  and  volcanoes. 

I  must  acknowledge,  however,  that  all  these  arguments 
fail  of  convincing  a  few  geologists  of  the  doctrine  of 
internal  igneous  fluidity,  to  the  extent  above  described. 
But  they-all  admit  that  the  facts  do  prove  the  existence  of 
vast  oceans  of  melted  matter  beneath  the  earth's  crust. 
Nor  do  even  these  geologists  doubt  but  the  globe  contains 
within  itself  the  agencies  requisite  for  a  universal  confla- 
gration. Mr.  Lyell  says  that  "  there  must  exist  below  enor- 
mous masses  of  matter,  intensely  heated,  and  in  many  in- 
stances in  a  constant  state  of  fusion."  He  says,  also,  "  When 
we  consider  the  combustible  nature  of  the  elements  of  the 


THE    ELEMENTS    OF    CONFLAGRATION    WITHIN.  393 

earth,  so  far  as  they  are  known  to  us,  the  facility  with  which 
their  compounds  may  be  decomposed  and  made  to  enter  into 
new  combinations,  the  quantity  of  heat  which  they  evolve 
during  those  processes ;  when  we  recollect  the  expansive 
power  of  steam,  and  that  water  itself  is  composed  of  two 
gases,  which,  by  their  union,  produce  intense  heat ;  when  we 
call  to  mind  the  number  of  explosive  and  detonating  com- 
pounds which  have  been  already  discovered,  —  we  may  be 
allowed  to  share  the  astonishment  of  Pliny,  that  a  single  day 
should  pass  without  a  general  conflagi'ation.  '  Excedit  pro- 
fecto  omnia  miracula,  ullum  diem  fuis.se  quo  nan  cuncta 
conjlagrarent.''  "  —  Lyell's  Principles  of  Geology^  b.  ii.  chap. 
XX.  vol.  ii. 

"  As  a  consequence  of  the  refrigeration  of  the  centre  and 
crust  of  the  globe,"  says  D'Orbigny,  "  the  withdrawment  of 
matter  has  produced  elevations  and  depressions  on  the  consol- 
idated crust ;  to  which  movements,  in  connection  with  those 
of  the  waters,  we  must  impute  the  complete  destruction  of 
the  existing  fauna.  These  dislocations  have  brought  about  at 
each  epoch  changes  of  level  in  the  consolidated  beds  and  in 
the  seas.  And  after  a  period  of  agitation,  more  or  less  pro- 
longed, after  each  of  these  geological  revolutions,  different 
beings  have  been  created  to  cOver  anew  and  enliven  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth.  —  Coiirs  Elementaire  Paleontologies  p.  148. 

All  geologists,  then,  agree  that  the  elements  of  the  earth's 
final  conflagration  are  contained  within  its  bosom  or  upon 
its  surface.  At  present,  these  elements  are  so  bound  down 
by  counteracting  agencies,  that  all  is  quiet  and  security.  But 
let  the  fiat  of  the  Almighty  go  forth  for  their  liberation,  and 
the  scenes  of  the  last  day,  as  described  in  the  Bible,  will 
commence.  The  ploughshare  of  ruin  will  be  driven  onward, 
until  this  fair  world  is  all  ingulfed,  and  no  trace  of  organic 


394       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

life  remains.  Yet  to  him  who  reaHzes  that  the  destruction  is 
only  a  necessary  preparation  for  a  brighter  world,  which  will 
emerge  from  the  ruins  of  the  present ;  that,  when  the  matter 
of  the  globe  has  been  purified,  its  surface  shall  be  covered 
with  new  and  lovelier  forms  of  beauty,  surrounded  by  a  still 
more  bland  and  balmy  atmosphere,  and  inhabited  by  sinless 
and  immortal  beings,  —  to  him  who  realizes  all  this,  the 
desolation  will  put  on  the  aspect  of  a  glorious  transformation. 
In  the  second  place,  still  deeper  will  be  this  impression, 
when  we  recollect  that  similar  transmutations  have  already 
been  experienced  by  the  earth  with  an  improvement  of  its 
condition.  There  is  no  evidence  that  the  entire  surface  of 
the  earth  has  ever  undergone  a  complete  fusion  since  organic 
life  first  appeared  upon  it.  But  we  have  reason  to  think  that, 
frequently,  at  least,  when  one  race  of  animals  and  plants  has 
disappeared  from  the  earth,  it  has  been  the  result  of  violent 
catastrophes,  proceeding  from  the  elevation  or  subsidence  of 
continents  or  chains  of  mountains.  Says  Agassiz,  "  A  very 
remarkable,  and  perhaps  the  most  surprising  fact  is,  that  the 
appearance  of  the  chains  of  mountains,  and  the  inequalities 
of  the  surface  resulting  from  it,  seem  to  have  coincided  gen- 
erally with  the  epochs  of  the  renewal  of  organized  beings.  — 
Ed.  Journal  of  Science^  Oct.  1842,  p.  394.  —  These  vertical 
movements  of  such  large  portions  of  the  earth's  crust  could 
have  resulted  only  from  the  direct  or  indirect  agency  of  vol- 
canic power,  though  the  destruction  of  organic  Hfe,  which 
must  have  been  the  consequence,  may  have  resulted  as  often 
from  aqueous  as  igneous  inundations.  But  usually  both  agen- 
cies were  probably  concerned,  and  the  predominance  of  one 
or  the  other  of  these  agencies  is  of  little  consequence  to  the 
argument;  for  if  such  wide-spread  ruin  has  already  repeated- 
ly passed   over  the   earth,  a  still  wider  desolation  may  be 


ANALOGY  OF  PAST  CHANGES.  395 

presumed  possible,  if  only  a  little  wider  play  shall  be  given 
to  the  agents  of  destruction.  Already  have  the  changes  of 
this  sort  which  the  earth,  or  portions  of  it,  have  undergone, 
resulted  in  an  improved  condition  of  its  surface.  In  other 
words,  at  each  successive  epoch,  animals  and  plants  of  a 
higher  and  more  perfect  organization  have  appeared,  because 
the  temperature,  the  air,  and  the  earth's  general  condition 
have  been  better  adapted  to  their  happy  existence.  The 
amount  of  limestone  seems  to  have  been  constantly  increas- 
ing, and,  as  a  consequence,  the  fertility  of  the  soil ;  probably, 
also,  the  amount  of  carbonic  acid  has  diminished  in  the 
atmosphere,  as  animals  with  lungs  have  been  multiplied.  In 
short,  there  is  a  prodigious  increase,  among  the  present  inhab- 
itants of  the  globe,  of  animals  and  plants  possessing  compli- 
cated and  delicate  organization  and  loftier  intellectual  powers, 
over  all  former  conditions  of  the  globe.  But  we  have  reason 
to  believe,  from  the  Christian  Scriptures,  that  the  next  econo- 
my of  life  which  shall  be  placed  upon  the  globe  will  far 
transcend  all  those  that  have  gone  before.  Every  vestige  of 
sin,  suffering,  decay,  and  death  will  disappear.  Says  the 
Bible,  There  shall  he  jio  more  death,  neither  sorrow  nor  cry- 
ing^ neither  shall  there  he  any  more  pain,  for  the  former 
things  are  passed  away.  And  there  shall  in  no  wise  enter 
it  any  thing  that  defileth,  neither  whatsoever  ivorketh  ahomi- 
nation,  or  maketh  a  lie.  In  short,  the  change  is  no  other 
than  the  conversion  of  this  world  into  heaven.  Reasonably, 
therefore,  might  we  anticipate  a  most  thorough  destruction  of 
the  present  world,  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  introduction  of 
such  a  glorious  state.  The  Scriptures  describe  that  state  by 
the  most  splendid  imagery  that  can  be  derived  from  existing 
nature.  It  is  represented,  figuratively,  no  doubt,  as  a  splen- 
did city,  prepared  of  God,  and  let  down  to  the  earth.     Its 


396        THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

twelve  foundations  are  all  precious  stones,  its  gates  pearls,  its 
wall  jasper,  and  its  streets  pure  gold,  as  it  were,  transparent 
glass.  The  Lord  God  Almighty  and  the  Lamb  are  the  tem- 
ple of  that  city.  Instead  of  the  sun  and  the  moon,  the  glory 
of  God  enlightens  it,  and  the  Lamb  is  the  light  thereof.  From 
out  of  their  throne  proceeds  the  water  of  life,  clear  as  crys- 
tal, and  along  its  banks  grows  the  tree  of  life,  with  its  twelve 
manner  of  fruits,  yielding  its  fruit  every  month. 

Here,  then,  we  have  the  most  splendid  and  enchanting 
objects  in  nature  brought  before  us  as  representatives  of  the 
new  heavens  and  the  new  earth.  Yet  we  cannot  learn  from 
the  Bible,  or  science,  what  material  dress  nature  will  then  put 
on.  We  are  taught  only  that  it  will  far  exceed,  in  splendor 
and  perfection,  the  drapery  which  she  now  wears.  We  may 
be  assured  that  it  will  be  eminently  adapted  to  a  spirit  that  is 
henceforth  to  be  perfectly  holy,  happy,  incorruptible,  and 
immortal.  Both  revelation  and  geology  agree  in  assuring  us 
that  the  new  earth,  which  will  emerge  from  the  ruins  of  the 
present,  will  be  improved  in  its  condition  ;  but  the  particulars 
of  that  condition  are  not  described  —  probably  because  we 
could  not,  in  our  present  state,  understand  them. 

Such  are  the  views  concerning  the  earth's  future  destruc- 
tion and  renovation,  which  appear  to  me  to  be  taught  by  a  fair 
interpretation  of  Scripture,  and  which  harmonize  with  the 
teachings  of  geology.  But  we  are  met  here  by  two  formida- 
ble difficulties.  In  the  first  place,  if  the  present  earth  is  to  be 
burnt  up  and  melted  at  the  last  day,  it  must  require  thou- 
sands of  years  before  another  solid  crust  shall  be  formed  upon 
its  surface,  capable  of  sustaining  organic  natures  which  are 
material.  But  the  Bible  represents  the  righteous,  at  the  day 
of  judgment,  as  reunited  to  their  bodies,  which  they  left  in  the 
grave,  and  entering  at  once  into  their  residence  upon  the  new 


OBJECTIONS.  397 

earth.  Where,  then,  can  we  find  the  thousands  of  years  which, 
by  this  theory,  are  essential  to  prepare  this  residence  for  their 
reception?  Into  what  intermediate  place,  what  new  Hades, 
shall  they  pass,  until  verdure  shall  clothe  the  new  earth,  and 
more  than  the  primeval  beauty  of  Eden  take  the  place  of  the 
volcanic  desolation  which  must  reign  over  a  world  just  begin- 
ning to  cool  from  incandescent  heat  ? 

I  freely  acknowledge  that  this  is  a  serious  objection  to  my 
theory  ;  and  perhaps  it  is  insuperable,  unless  we  resort  to 
miraculous  interference.  It  were  easy  to  say,  that  God  can, 
in  a  moment,  convert  a  globe  of  fire  into  a  paradise  of  beauty, 
and  make  its  landscapes  smile  with  charms  transcending  the 
bowers  of  paradise  lost.  Indeed,  the  Scriptures  represent 
the  New  Jerusalem  as  prepared  by  God's  own  hands,  and  let 
down  at  once  upon  the  earth  to  form  the  metropolitan  abode 
of  the  righteous. 

But,  after  all,  I  am  unwilling  thus  to  dispose  of  the  diffi- 
culty. For  it  is  a  clumsy  way  to  meet  objections,  when  we 
undertake  to  philosophize  upon  events,  either  past,  present, 
or  future,  to  foist  in  a  miracle,  in  order  to  eke  out  our  hy- 
pothesis. We  thus  make  an  image  of  as  incoherent  parts 
as  that  in  Nebuchadnezzar's  dream,  and  as  easily  broken  in 
pieces. 

There  is  a  second  mode  by  which  the  difficulty  under  con- 
sideration can  be  completely  obviated,  could  we  only  admit 
the  theory  on  which  it  rests.  Some  theological  writers  have 
maintained  that  the  day  of  judgment  will  occupy  a  long  pe- 
riod,—  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  years  perhaps, — 
in  order  that  every  individual  may  experience  a  literal  trial 
before  the  universe  for  all  his  conduct  on  earth,  so  that  the 
conscience  of  every  one  in  that  vast  assembly  shall  approve 
the  final  sentence.  They  appeal  to  various  texts  of  Scripture, 
34 


398       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

where  it  is  strongly  stated  that  rigid  inquisition  will  be  made 
on  that  solemn  day  into  the  conduct  and  motives  of  every 
individual.  And  it  may  be,  indeed,  that  such  descriptions  are 
to  have  a  literal  fulfilment ;  and  if  so,  we  should  have  a  pe- 
riod long  enough  for  the  new  earth  to  be  recovered  by  natural 
means  from  its  volcanic  desolation,  and  to  be  covered  over 
with  new  forms  of  beauty.  But  I  confess  the  theory  of  such 
a  long  period  of  judgment  does  not  seem  to  me  to  be  sus- 
tained by  the  most  approved  rules  of  exegesis,  and  therefore 
I  am  unwilling  to  rest  upon  it  to  sustain  my  own  hypothesis. 

But  is  it  not  possible  that  our  difficulty  of  conceiving  how 
the  spiritual  body  can  enter  at  once  upon  its  residence  in  the 
new  heavens  and  earth,  while  yet  the  globe  is  only  a  shore- 
less ocean  of  fire,  results  from  a  mistaken  conception  of  the 
nature  of  the  spiritual  body  ?  Do  we  not  judge  of  it  by  our 
own  present  bodies,  and  imagine  that  it  must  necessarily  pos- 
sess such  an  organization  as  would  be  destroyed  by  the  ex- 
tremes of  heat  and  cold  ?  i\nd  are  we  authorized  to  draw  such 
an  inference  ?  The  Scriptures  have,  indeed,  left  us  very 
much  in  the  dark  as  to  the  specific  nature  of  the  future  glo- 
rified body,  which  Paul  calls  a  spiritual  body.  He  does  not 
mean  that  it  is  composed  of  spirit,  for  then  it  would  not  differ 
from  the  soul  itself,  by  which  it  is  to  be  animated.  He  cer- 
tainly means  that  it  is  composed  of  matter ;  unless,  indeed, 
there  be  in  the  universe  a  third  substance,  distinct  both  from 
matter  and  spirit.  But  of  the  existence  of  such  a  substance  we 
have  no  positive  evidence  ;  and,  therefore,  must  conclude  the 
spiritual  body  to  be  matter ;  called  spiritual,  probably,  be- 
cause eminently  adapted  to  form  the  immortal  residence  of 
pure  spirit. 

Yet  we  learn  from  the  apostle's  description  that  it  is  not 
composed  of  flesh  and  blood,  which,  he  says,  cannot  inherit 


THE    LUMINIFEROUS    ETHER.  399 

the  kingdom  of  God  ;  neither  is  it  capable  of  decay,  like  our 
present  bodies.  Indeed,  the  illustration  which  he  derives  from 
the  decay  and  germination  of  a  kernel  of  wheat  shows  us  that 
the  future  body  will  be  as  much  unlike  the  present  as  a  stalk 
of  wheat  is  different  from  the  seed  whence  it  sprang  ;  and, 
in  appearance,  scarcely  any  two  things  are  more  unlike. 
Hence  w^e  may  suppose  the  resurrection  body  of  the  righteous 
to  be  as  different  from  that  which  the  soul  now  anim.ates  as 
matter  can  be,  in  its  most  diverse  forms. 

Now,  the  question  arises.  Do  we  know  of  any  form  of  mat- 
ter in  the  present  world  which  remains  the  same  at  all  tem- 
peratures, and  in  all  circumstances,  which  no  chemical  or 
mechanical  agencies  can  alter  ?  —  a  substance  which  remains 
unchanged  in  the  very  heart  of  the  ice  around  the  poles,  and 
in  the  focus  of  a  volcano  ;  which  remains  untouched  by  the 
most  powerful  reagents  which  the  chemist  can  apply,  and  by 
the  mightiest  forces  which  the  mechanician  can  bring  to  bear 
upon  it  ?  It  seems  to  me  that  modern  science  does  render 
the  existence  of  such  a  substance  probable,  though  not  cog- 
nizable by  the  senses.  It  is  the  luminiferous  ether,  that  atten- 
uated medium  by  which  light,  and  heat,  and  electricity  are 
transmitted  from  one  part  of  the  universe  to  another,  by  undu- 
lations of  inconceivable  velocity.  This  strange  fluid,  whose 
existence  and  action  seems  all  but  demonstrated  by  the  phe- 
nomena of  light,  heat,  and  electricity,  and  perhaps,  too,  by  the 
resistance  experienced  by  Encke's,  Biela's,  and  Halley's 
comets,  must  possess  the  extraordinary  characteristic  above 
pointed  out.  It  must  exist  and  act  wherever  we  find  light, 
heat,  or  electricity  ;  and  where  do  we  not  find  them  ?  They 
penetrate  through  what  has  been  called  empty  space  ;  and, 
therefore,  this  ether  exists  there,  propagating  its  undulations 
at  the  astonishing  rate  of  two  hundred   thousand  miles  per 


400       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

second.  They  emanate  in  constant  succession  from  every 
intensely  heated  focus,  such  as  the  sun,  the  volcano,  and  the 
chemical  furnace  ;  and,  therefore,  this  strange  medium  is 
neither  dissipated  nor  affected  by  the  strongest  known  heat. 
Both  light  and  heat  are  transmitted  through  ice  ;  and,  there- 
fore, this  ether  cannot  be  congealed.  The  same  is  true  of 
glass,  and  every  transparent  substance,  however  dense  ;  and 
even  the  most  solid  metals  convey  heat  and  electricity  vv'ith 
remarkable  facility  ;  and,  therefore,  this  ether  exists  and  acts 
with  equal  facility  in  the  most  solid  masses  as  in  a  vacuum. 
In  short,  it  seems  to  be  independent  of  chemical  or  mechani- 
cal changes,  and  to  act  unobstructed  in  all  possible  modifica- 
tions of  matter.  And,  though  too  evanescent  to  be  cognizable 
by  the  senses,  or  the  most  delicate  chemical  and  mechanical 
tests,  it  possesses,  nevertheless,  a  most  astonishing  activity. 

Now,  I  am  not  going  to  assert  that  the  spiritual  body  will 
be  composed  of  this  luminiferous  ether.  But,  since  we  know 
not  the  composition  of  that  body,  it  is  lawful  to  suppose  that 
such  may  be  its  constitution.  This  is  surely  possible,  and 
that  is  all  which  is  essential  to  my  present  argument. 

Admitting  its  truth,  the  following  interesting  conclusions 
follow  :  — 

In  the  first  place,  the  spiritual  body  would  be  unaffected  by 
all  possible  changes  of  temperature.  It  might  exist  as  well 
in  the  midst  of  fire,  or  of  ice,  as  in  any  intermediate  tempera- 
ture. Hence  it  might  pass  from  one  extreme  of  temperature 
to  another,  and  be  at  home  in  them  all  ;  and  this  is  what  we 
might  hope  for  in  a  future  world.  Some,  indeed,  have  imagined 
that  the  sun  will  be  the  future  heaven  of  the  righteous  ;  and  on 
this  supposition  there  is  no  absurdity  in  the  theory.  Nor 
would  there  be  in  the  hypothesis  which  should  locate  heaven 
in  solid  ice,  or  in  the  centre  of  the  earth. 


INFERENCES.  401 

In  the  second  place,  on  this  supposition,  the  spiritual  body- 
would  be  unharmed  by  those  chemical  and  mechanical  agen- 
cies which  matter  in  no  other  form  can  resist. 

The  question  has  often  arisen,  how  the  glorified  body,  if 
material,  would  be  able  to  escape  all  sources  of  injury,  so 
as  to  be  immortal  as  the  soul.  In  this  hypothesis,  we  see  how 
it  is  possible  ;  for  though  the  whole  globe  should  change  its 
chemical  constitution,  though  worlds  should  dash  upon  worlds, 
the  spiritual  body,  though  present  at  the  very  point  where  the 
terrible  collision  took  place,  would  feel  no  injury  ;  and  safe 
in  its  immortal  habitation,  the  soul  might  smile  amid  "  the 
wreck  of  matter  and  the  crush  of  worlds." 

In  the  third  place,  on  this  supposition,  the  soul  might  com- 
municate its  thoughts  and  receive  a  knowledge  of  events  and 
of  other  minds,  through  distances  inconceivably  great,  with 
the  speed  of  lightning.  If  we  suppose  the  soul,  in  such  a  ten- 
ement, could  transmit  its  thoughts  and  desires,  and  receive 
impressions,  through  the  luminiferous  ether,  with  only  the  same 
velocity  as  light,  it  might  communicate  with  other  beings  upon 
the  sun,  at  the  distance  of  one  hundred  million  miles,  in  eight 
minutes  ;  and  such  a  power  we  may  reasonably  expect  the 
soul  will  hereafter  possess,  whether  derived  from  this  or  some 
other  agency.  We  cannot  believe  that,  in  another  world,  the 
soul's  communication  with  the  rest  of  the  universe  will  be  as 
limited  as  in  the  present  state.  On  this  supposition,  she  need 
not  wander  through  the  universe  to  learn  the  events  transpir- 
ing in  other  spheres,  for  the  intelligence  would  be  borne  on 
the  morning's  ray  or  the  lightning's  wing. 

Finally,  on  this  supposition,  the  germ  of  the  future  spiritual 
body  may,  even  in  this  world,  be  attached  to  the  soul ;  and  it 
may  be  this  which  she  will  come  seeking  after  on  the  resur- 
rection morning. 

34* 


402       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

1  know  not  but  this  wonderful  medium,  in  some  unknown 
form,  may  attach  itself  to  the  sleeping  dust ;  and  though  that 
dust  be  scattered  upon  the  winds,  or  diffused  in  the  waters  of 
the  ocean,  and  transformed  into  other  animal  bodies,  still  that 
germ  may  not  be  lost.  The  chemist  has  often  been  per- 
plexed, when  he  thinks  how  the  bodies  of  men  are  decom- 
posed after  death,  and  how  every  particle  must,  in  some  cases, 
pass  into  other  bodies  ;  he  has  been  perplexed,  I  say,  to  see 
how  the  resurrection  body  should  be  identified,  and  especially 
how  those  particles  could  become  a  part  of  different  bodies. 
Perhaps  the  hypothesis  under  consideration  may  relieve  the 
difficulty.  Perhaps,  too,  it  may  teach  us  how  the  soul  exists 
and  acts,  when  separated  from  the  body.  It  may  act  through 
this  universal  medium,  though  in  a  manner  less  perfect  than 
after  it  has  united  itself  to  the  spiritual  body  raised  from  the 
grave.* 

But  I  fear  I  am  venturing  too  far  into  the  region  of  conjec- 
ture. My  only  object  is,  to  show  that  we  do  know  of  a  sub- 
stance which  might  form  a  spiritual  body  which  should  be  in 
its  element  upon  the  new  earth,  even  though  it  were  in  the 
condition  of  a  fiery  ocean.  It  could  not,  indeed,  be  an  or- 
ganic body  of  such  a  kind  as  heat  would  destroy  ;  though  I 
see  no  reason  why  it  may  not  possess  an  organism  far  more 
delicate  and  wonderful  than  that  of  our  present  bodies,  and 
yet  be  unaffected  by  heat  or  cold,  or  mechanical  or  chemical 
agencies.  I  do  not  feel,  therefore,  that  the  objection  which  I 
am  considering  is  insuperable.     It  results,  I  apprehend,  from 

*  This  subject  has  been  treated  more  fully,  and  I  hope  more  satis- 
factorily, in  a  little  work  of  mine,  which  has  just  reached  its  second 
edition,  entitled  Religious  Lectures  on  Peculiar  Phenomena  in  the 
Four  Seasons,  (Amherst,  1851.)  See  the  first  Lecture,  on  the  Resur- 
rections of  Spring. 


MESMERISM.  403 

the  false  assumption  that  the  spiritual  body  will  be  subject  to 
those  influences  by  which  our  present  comparatively  gross 
bodies  are  so  powerfully  affected. 

Shall  1  be  pardoned  if  I  say  that,  in  the  experiments  of  an 
incipient  and  maltreated  science,  we  have,  perhaps,  a  glimpse 
of  the  manner  in  which  the  soul  will  act  in  the  future  spiritual 
body.'*  for  if  those  experiments  be  not  all  delusion,  —  and  how 
can  we  reasonably  infer  that  experiments  so  multiplied,  so 
various,  and  in  many  cases,  when  not  in  the  hands  of  itiner- 
ant jugglers,  so  fairly  performed,  —  I  say,  how  can  we  re- 
gard all  these  as  mere  trickery  ?  and  if  not,  they  are  best 
explained  by  supposing  the  soul  to  act  independently  of  the 
bodily  organs,  and  through  the  same  medium  which  we  have 
supposed  to  constitute  the  future  spiritual  body.  In  this  view, 
mesmerism  assumes  a  most  interesting  aspect,  forming,  as 
it  were,  a  link  between  the  present  and  the  future  v^'orld. 
The  theory  which  I  have  advanced  does  not,  indeed,  fall  to 
the  ground,  though  mesmerism  should  be  found  a  delusion  ; 
yet  it  is  but  justice  to  say,  that  it  first  came  under  my  eye 
m  that  most  classical,  philosophical,  and  attractive  work, 
Townsend's  "  Facts  in  Mesmerism."  A  similar  view,  how- 
ever, was  presented  several  years  earlier,  in  a  work  by  Isaac 
Taylor,  no  less  ingenious  and  profound,  the  "Physical  The- 
ory of  Another  Life,"  a  work,  however,  which  makes  not  the 
slightest  allusion  to  mesmerism.  The  author  supposes  such 
a  state  of  things  as  I  have  imagined  in  another  life  to  be  in  ex- 
istence even  now.  "  The  sensation  of  light,"  says  he,  "  is  now 
believed  to  result  from  the  vibrations,  not  the  emanations,  of 
an  elastic  fluid,  or  ether  ;  but  this  same  element  may  be  ca- 
pable of  another  species  of  vibrations  ;  or  the  electric  or  the 
magnetic  fluids  may  be  susceptible  of  some  such  vibrations  ; 
or  an  element  as   universally  diflTused   as  light  throujrh  the 


404       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

universe  may  be  the  medium  of  sonorous  undulations,  equally 
rapid  and  distinct,  and  serving  to  connect  the  most  remote 
regions  of  the  universe  by  the  conveyance  of  sounds,  just  as 
the  most  remote  are  actually  connected  by  the  passage  of  light. 
Yet  the  sonorous  vibrations  of  this  supposed  element  may  be 
far  too  delicate  to  awaken  the  ear  of  man,  or,  in  fact,  of  a 
kind  not  perceptible  by  the  human  auditory  nerve."  "  We 
refuse  to  allow  that  a  conjecture  of  this  sort  is  extravagant, 
or  destitute  of  philosophical  probability ;  on  the  contrary, 
consider  it  as  borne  out,  in  a  positive  sense,  by  the  discoveries 
of  modern  science.  Might  we  then  rest  for  a  moment  upon 
an  animating  conception  (aided  by  the  actual  analogy  of  light) 
such  as  this,  viz.,  that  the  field  of  the  visible  universe  is  the 
theatre  of  a  vast  social  economy,  holding  rational  intercourse 
at  great  distances  ?  Let  us  claim  leave  to  indulge  the  belief, 
when  we  contemplate  the  starry  heavens,  that  speech,  in- 
quiry and  response,  commands  and  petitions,  debate  and 
instruction,  are  passing  to  and  fro ;  or  shall  the  imagination 
catch  the  pealing  anthems  of  praise,  at  stated  seasons,  arising 
from  worshippers  in  all  quarters,  and  flowing  on  with  thun- 
dering power,  like  the  noise  of  many  waters,  until  it  meet  and 
shake  the  courts  of  the  central  heavens  ?  "  —  Physical  Theory 
of  Another  Life,  p.  202,  3d  Am.  ed. 

The  second  objection  to  the  view  which  I  have  presented 
of  the  future  destruction  and  renovation  of  the  earth,  as  an 
abode  of  the  righteous,  may  be  thus  stated  :  Heaven  is  an 
unchanging  state  ;  but  a  world  which  has  been  burned  up  and 
melted,  even  if  we  might  suppose  spiritual  beings  to  dwell 
upon  it,  must  undergo  still  further  change.  The  radiation  of 
its  heat  would  form  a  crust  over  its  surface  ;  the  waters,  dis- 
sipated into  vapor,  would  be  recondensed  ;  volcanic  agency 
%vould  ridge  up  the  crust  into  mountains  and  valleys  ;  and,  in 


SECOND    OBJECTION.  405 

short,  geological  agencies  would  at  length  form  such  a  sur- 
face, so  far  as  rocks  and  soil  are  concerned,  as  we  now 
tread  upon.  And  even  though  organic  beings  should  not  be 
again  placed  upon  it,  those  changes  would  proceed,  till,  per- 
haps, another  and  another  great  catastrophe  by  fire  might  pass 
over  it ;  nor  can  we  say  where  these  mutations  would  end. 
Can  we  believe  such  a  world  to  be  heaven  ? 

Here,  again,  as  in  the  last  objection,  it  appears  to  me,  the 
main  difficulty  lies  in  our  judging  of  the  future  spiritual  body 
by  that  organism  which  we  now  inhabit.  Heaven  is,  indeed, 
an  unchanging  state  of  happiness  and  holiness.  But  does  it, 
therefore,  follow  that  there  can  be  no  change  in  its  material 
form  and  aspect  ?  I  have  already  shown  that  the  spiritual 
body  may  be  of  such  a  composition  that  no  change  of  tem- 
perature, of  place  or  constitution,  in  surrounding  bodies,  can 
at  all  affect  it.  If  the  soul  could  be  happy  in  one  set  of 
physical  circumstances  while  in  such  a  tenement,  it  might 
be  happy  in  any  other  circumstances  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted. But  it  does  not  follow  that  the  happiness  of  the 
soul  might  not  be  increased  by  the  changes  of  the  material 
world  around  it.  What  is  it  on  earth  that  affords  the  greatest 
amount  of  happiness  derived  from  the  external  world  ?  It  is 
the  immense  variety  of  creation,  produced  chiefly  by  chemi- 
cal and  mechanical  agencies.  These  changes  afford  us  the 
most  striking  exhibitions  of  the  wisdom,  power,  and  benevo- 
lence of  the  Deity,  within  our  knowledge  ;  and  why  may  not 
analogous,  or  still  more  wonderful  changes,  and  greater  variety, 
give  still  higher  conceptions  of  the  divine  character  to  the 
inhabitants  of  heaven,  and  excite  a  purer  and  a  stronger  love  ? 
And  to  study  that  character  will  form,  I  doubt  not,  the  grand 
employment  of  heaven.  Who  can  tell  what  depths  of  knowl- 
edge may  there  be  laid  open  into  the  internal  constitution  of 


406       THE  FUTURE  CONDITION  OF  THE  EARTH. 

matter,  and  its  combinations,  and  especially  its  union  with 
spirit !  And  what  surer  means  of  bringing  out  these  devel- 
opments than  change,  constant  and  everlasting  change  ?  For 
who  can  set  limits  to  those  mutations  which  an  infinite  God 
can  produce  upon  the  matter  of  this  vast  universe  ?  It  is  easy 
to  see  that  they  may  be  literally  infinite. 

Once  more.  We  have  seen  that  the  geological  changes 
which  our  world  has  hitherto  undergone  have  been  an  im- 
provement of  its  condition,  and  that  each  successive  econ- 
omy has  been  a  brighter  exhibition  of  divine  wisdom  and 
benevolence.  Shall  this  progress  be  arrested  when  the  present 
economy  closes  ?  We  know  that  the  righteous  will  forever 
advance  in  holiness  and  happiness.  Why  may  not  a  part  of 
that  increase  depend  upon  their  introduction  into  higher  and 
higher  economies  through  eternal  ages  ?  May  not  this  be 
one  of  the  modes  in  which  new  developments  of  the  character 
of  God  will  open  upon  them  in  the  world  of  bliss  ? 

The  Scriptures  represent  the  material  aspect  of  the  new 
heavens  and  the  new  earth,  when  first  the  righteous  enter 
upon  them,  to  be  one  of  surpassing  glory.  But  why  may  not 
other  developments  await  them  in  the  round  of  eternal  ages, 
as  their  expanding  faculties  are  able  to  understand  and  appre- 
ciate them  ? 

The  greater  the  variety  of  new  scenes  in  the  material  world 
which  shall  be  presented  to  the  mind,  such  as  an  infinite  Deity 
shall  devise,  the  more  intense  the  happiness  of  their  contem- 
plations ;  and  who  can  set  limits  to  the  permutations  which 
such  a  being  can  produce,  even  upon  matter  ?  I  can  form 
no  conjecture  as  to  the  nature  of  those  new  developments ; 
nor  do  I  believe  they  could  be  understood  in  our  present  state. 
I  feel  as  if  those  formed  too  low  an  estimate  of  the  new  heav- 
ens and  the  new  earth,  who  imagine  a  repetition  there  of  the 


SCENES  OF  THE  NEW  EARTH.  407 

most  curious  organic  structures,  the  most  splendid  flowers  and 
fruits,  and  the  most  enchanting  landscapes  of  the  present 
world.  1  fancy  that  scenes  far  more  enchanting,  and  objects 
far  more  glorious,  will  meet  the  soul  at  its  first  entrance  upon 
the  new  earth,  even  though  to  mortal  vision  it  should  present 
only  an  ocean  of  fire.  I  imagine  a  thousand  new  inlets  into 
the  soul  —  nay,  I  think  of  it  as  all  eye,  all  ear,  all  sensation  ; 
now  plunging  deeper  into  the  infinitesimal  parts  of  matter 
than  the  microscope  can  carry  us,  and  now  soaring  away, 
perhaps  on  the  waves  of  the  mysterious  ether,  far  beyond  the 
ken  of  the  telescope.  And  if  such  is  the  first  entrance  into 
heaven,  who  can  conjecture  what  new  fields  and  new  glories 
shall  open  before  the  mind,  and  fill  it  with  ecstasy,  as  it  flies 
onward  without  end !  But  I  dare  not  indulge  further  in  these 
hypothetical,  yet  fascinating  thoughts  ;  yet  let  us  never  for- 
get, that  in  a  very  short  time,  far  shorter  than  we  imagine, 
all  the  scenes  of  futurity  will  be  to  us  a  thrilling  reality.  We 
shall  then  know  in  a  moment  how  much  of  truth  there  is  in 
these  speculations.  But  if  they  all  prove  false,  fully  confi- 
dent am  I  that  the  scenes  which  will  open  upon  us  will  sur- 
pass our  liveliest  conceptions.  The  glass  through  which  we 
now  see  darkly  will  be  removed,  and  face  to  face  shall  we 
meet  eternal  glories.  Then  shall  we  learn  that  our  present 
bodily  organs,  however  admirably  adapted  to  our  condition 
here,  were  in  fact  clogs  upon  the  soul,  intended  to  fetter  its 
free  range,  that  we  might  the  more  richly  enjoy  the  liberty 
of  the  sons  of  God,  and  expatiate  in  the  spiritual  body,  the 
huilding  of  God,  the  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in 
the  heavens. 

Let  us,  then,  live  continually  under  the  influence  of  the 
scenes  that  await  us  beyond  the  grave.  They  will  thus  be- 
come familiar  to  us,  and  we  shall  appreciate   their  infinite 


408  THE    FUTURE    COiSDlTlON    OF    THE    EARTH. 

superiority  to  the  objects  that  so  deeply  interest  us  on  earth. 
We  shall  be  led  to  look  forward  even  with  strong  desire,  in 
spite  of  the  repulsive  aspect  of  death,  to  that  state  where  the 
soul  will  be  freed  from  her  prison-house  of  flesh  and  blood, 
and  can  range  in  untiring  freedom  through  the  boundless 
fields  of  knowledge  and  happiness  that  are  in  prospect.  Then 
shall  we  learn  to  despise  the  low  aims  and  contracted  views 
of  the  sensualist,  the  demagogue,  and  the  worldling.  High 
and  noble  thoughts  and  aspirations  will  lift  our  souls  above 
the  murky  atmosphere  of  this  world,  and,  while  yet  in  the 
body,  we  shall  begin  to  breathe  the  empyreal  air  of  the  new 
heavens,  and  to  gather  the  fruits  of  the  tree  of  life  in  the  new 
earth,  where  righteousness  only  shall  forever  dwell. 


(409) 


LECTURE     XII. 
THE  TELEGRAPHIC   SYSTEM   OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

In  order  to  impress  some  important  truth  or  transaction, 
men  have  sometimes  represented  surrounding  inanimate  ob- 
jects as  looking  on  and  witnessing  the  scene,  or  listening  to 
the  words,  and  ready  ever  afterwards  to  open  their  mouth  to 
testify  to  the  facts,  should  man  deny  them.  I  know  of  no 
writings  from  which  to  derive  so  striking  an  illustration  of 
these  strong  figurative  representations  as  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

Take,  for  a  first  example,  the  solemn  covenant  entered  into 
between  Jehovah  and  the  Israelites,  in  the  time  of  Joshua. 
To  fix  the  transaction  as  firmly  as  possible  in  the  minds  of 
the  fickle  people,  he  took  a  great  stone  and  set  it  up  there 
under  an  oak  that  was  hy  the  sanctuary  of  the  Lord.  And 
Joshua  said  unto  all  the  people,,  Behold,  this  stone  shall  he  a 
witness  unto  us.  For  it  hath  heard  all  the  words  of  the 
Lord  which  he  spake  unto  us.  It  shall,  therefore,  he  a  witness 
unto  you,  lest  ye  deny  your  God. 

In  a  second  example,  the  prophet  Habakkuk  describes  the 
insatiable  wickedness  of  the  Chaldeans  ;  and  addressing  the 
nation  as  an  individual,  he  says,  Thoii  hast  consulted  shame  to 
thy  house  hy  cutting  off  many  people,  and  hast  sinned  against 
thy  soul.  For  the  stone  shall  cry  out  of  the  wall,  and  the 
heam  out  of  the  timber  shall  ansiver  it.  Such  abominations 
had  aroused  even  the  most  insensible  part  of  creation,  the 
very  timber  and  the  stone,  to  life  and  indignation. 
35 


410     THE  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM  OF  THE  UNIVERSE'. 

In  a  third  example,  the  whole  multitude  of  Jews  had  just 
spread  their  garments  upon  the  ground  for  Christ  to  ride  over, 
they  meanwhile  crying  out,  Blessed  be  the  King  thai  comclh 
in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  Peace  in  heaven  and  glory  in  the 
highest.  But  some  of  the  Pharisees  said,  Master.,  rebuke 
thy  disciples  ;  and  he  ansivered  and  said  unto  them^  If  these 
should  hold  their  peace,  the  stones  would  immediately  cry 
out.  If  man  refused  to  do  homage  to  the  King  of  glory, 
when  he  came  among  them,  the  rocks,  more  sensible,  would 
break  forth  in  his  praises. 

The  discoveries  of  modern  science,  however,  show  us  that 
there  is  a  literal  sense  in  which  the  material  creation  receives 
an  impression  from  all  our  words  and  actions  that  can  never 
be  efiaced  ;  and  that  nature,  through  all  time,  is  ever  ready  to 
bear  testimony  of  what  we  have  said  and  done.  Men  fancy 
that  the  wave  of  oblivion  passes  over  the  greater  part  of  their 
actions.  But  physical  science  shows  us  that  those  actions 
have  been  transfused  into  the  very  texture  of  the  universe,  so 
that  no  waters  can  wash  them  out,  and  no  erosions,  comminu- 
tion, or  metamorphoses,  can  obliterate  them. 

The  principle  which  I  advance  in  its  naked  form  is  this  : 
Our  words,  our  actions,  and  even  our  thoughts,  make  an  indel- 
ible impression  on  the  universe.  Thrown  into  a  poetic  form, 
this  principle  converts  creation 

Into  a  vast  sounding  gallery  ; 
Into  a  vast  picture  gallery ; 
And  into  a  viniversal  telegraph. 

This  proposition  I  shall  endeavor  to  sustain  by  an  appeal  to 
well-established  principles  of  science.  Yet,  since  some  of 
these  principles  are  not  the  most  common  and  familiar,  and 
have  not  been  applied,  except  in  part,  to  this  subject,  I  must 


MECHANICAL    REACTION.  411 

be  more  technical  in  their  explanation  than  I  could  wish,  and 
more  minute  in  the  details. 

The  grand  point,  however,  on  which  the  whole  subject  turns, 
is  the  doctrine  of  reaction.  By  this  is  meant  the  mutual  or  re- 
ciprocal action  of  different  things  upon  one  another.  Thus,  if 
a  body  fall  to  the  earth,  the  earth  reacts  upon  it,  and  stops  it, 
or  throws  it  back.  If  sulphuric  acid  be  poured  upon  limestone, 
a  mutual  action  ensues  ;  the  acid  acts  on  the  stone,  and  the 
stone  reacts  upon  the  acid,  and  a  new  compound  is  produced. 
If  light  fall  upon  a  solid  body,  the  body  reacts  upon  the  light, 
which  it  sends  back  to  the  eye  with  an  image  of  itself.  These 
are  examples  of  what  is  meant  by  reaction,  or  the  reciprocal 
action  of  different  substances  upon  one  another.  But  it  is  not 
every  kind  of  reaction  that  will  prove  a  permanent  impression 
to  be  made  upon  the  universe  by  our  conduct.  Hence  we 
must  be  more  specific. 

In  the  first  place,  the  principle  is  proved  and  illustrated 
by  the  doctrine  of  mechanical  reaction. 

From  the  principle,  long  since  settled  in  mechanics,  that 
action  and  reaction  are  equal,  it  will  follow  that  every  impres- 
sion which  man  makes  by  his  words,  or  his  movements,  upon 
the  air,  the  waters,  or  the  solid  earth,  will  produce  a  series  of 
changes  in  each  of  those  elements  which  will  never  end. 
The  word  which  is  now  going  out  of  my  mouth  causes  pulsa- 
tions or  waves  in  the  air,  and  these,  though  invisible  to  human 
eyes,  expand  in  every  direction  until  they  have  passed  around 
the  whole  globe,  and  produced  a  change  in  the  whole  atmos- 
phere ;  nor  will  a  single  circumgyration  complete  the  effect ; 
but  the  sentence  which  I  am  now  uttering  shall  alter  the  whole 
atmosphere  through  all  future  time.  So  that,  as  Professor 
Babbage  remarks,  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  first  moral 
application  of  this  mechanical  principle,  "  the  air  is  one  vast 


412     THE  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM  OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

library,  on  whose  pages  are  forever  written  all  that  man  has 
ever  said,  or  woman  whispered."  Not  a  word  has  ever 
escaped  from  mortal  lips,  whether  for  the  defence  of  virtue 
or  the  perversion  of  the  truth,  not  a  cry  of  agony  has  ever 
been  uttered  by  the  oppressed,  not  a  mandate  of  cruelty  by 
the  oppressor,  not  a  false  and  flattering  word  by  the  deceiver, 
but  it  is  registered  indelibly  upon  the  atmosphere  we  breathe. 
And  could  man  command  the  mathematics  of  superior  minds, 
every  particle  of  air  thus  set  in  motion  could  be  traced 
through  all  its  changes,  with  as  much  precision  as  the  astron- 
omer can  point  out  the  path  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  No 
matter  how  many  storms  have  raised  the  atmosphere  into 
wild  commotion,  and  whirled  it  into  countless  forms ;  no  mat- 
ter how  many  conflicting  waves  have  mixed  and  crossed  one 
another ;  the  path  of  each  pulsation  is  definite,  and  subject  to 
the  laws  of  mathematics.  To  follow  it  requires,  indeed,  a 
power  of  analysis  superior  to  human  ;  but  we  can  conceive  it 
to  be  far  inferior  to  the  divine. 

The  same  thing  is  true  of  the  waters.  No  wave  has  ever 
been  raised  on  their  bosom,  no  keel  has  ever  ploughed  their 
surface,  which  has  not  sent  an  influence  and  a  change  into 
every  ocean,  and  modified  every  wave,  that  has  rolled  in 
upon  the  farthest  shores.  As  the  vessel  crosses  the  deep,  the 
parted  waves  close  in,  and  every  trace  of  disturbance  soon 
disappears  from  human  vision.  Nevertheless,  it  is  certain 
that  every  track  thus  furrowed  in  the  waters  has  sent  an  influ- 
ence through  their  entire  mass,  such  as  is  calculable  by  dis- 
tinct formulse  ;  and  it  may  be  that  glorified  minds,  by  the 
principles  of  celestial  mathematics,  can  as  easily  trace  out 
the  paths  of  the  unnumbered  vessels  that  have  crossed  the 
waters,  as  the  astronomer  can  the  paths  of  the  planets  or 
the  comets. 


PROFESSOR    BABBAGE.  413 

The  solid  earth,  too,  is  alike  tenacious  of  every  impression 
we  make  upon  it ;  not  a  footprint  of  man  or  beast  is  marked 
upon  its  surface,  that  does  not  permanently  change  the  whole 
globe.  Every  one  of  its  countless  atoms  will  retain  and  ex- 
hibit an  infinitesimal,  but  a  real,  effect  through  all  coming 
time.  It  is  too  minute,  indeed,  for  the  cognizance  of  the  hu- 
man senses.  But  in  a  higher  sphere  there  may  be  inlets  of 
perception  acute  enough  to  trace  it  through  all  its  bearings, 
and  thus  render  every  atom  of  the  globe  a  living  witness  to 
the  actions  of  every  living  being. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  we  cannot  regard  the  glowing  lan- 
guage of  Babbage  an  exaggeration,  when  he  says,  "  The  soul 
of  the  negro,  whose  fettered  body,  surviving  the  living  char- 
nel-house of  his  infected  prison,  was  thrown  into  the  sea  to 
lighten  the  ship,  that  his  Christian  master  might  escape  the 
limited  justice  at  length  assigned  by  civilized  man  to  crimes 
whose  profit  had  long  gilded  their  atrocity,  will  need,  at  the 
last  great  day  of  human  accounts,  no  living  witness  of  his 
earthly  agony  :  when  man  and  all  his  race  shall  have  disap- 
peared from  the  face  of  our  planet,  ask  every  particle  of  air 
still  floating  over  the  unpeopled  earth,  and  it  will  record  the  cruel 
mandate  of  the  tyrant.  Interrogate  every  wave  which  breaks 
unimpeded  on  ten  thousand  desolate  shores,  and  it  will  give 
evidence  of  the  last  gurgle  of  the  waters  which  closed  over 
the  head  of  his  dying  victim.  Confront  the  murderer  with 
every  corporeal  atom  of  his  immolated  slave,  and  in  its  still 
quivering  movements  he  will  read  the  prophet's  denunciation 
of  the  prophet  king." 

The  distinguished  mathematical  professor  from  whom  I 
have  just  quoted  limits  the  effects  of  this  mathematical  reac- 
tion to  this  globe  and  its  atmosphere.  But  if,  as  the  philoso- 
phers now  generally  admit,  there  is  a  subtile  and  extremely 
t55* 


414  THE    TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM    OF    THE    imiVEKSE. 

elastic  medium  pervading  all  space,  why  must  they  not  ex- 
tend to  other  worlds,  yea,  to  the  whole  universe  ?  Without 
an  accurate  acquaintance  with  the  facts,  indeed,  it  will  seem 
a  mere  extravagant  imagination  to  say  that  our  most  trivial 
word  or  action  sends  a  thrill  throughout  the  whole  material 
universe  ;  but  I  see  not  why  sober  and  legitimate  science  does 
not  conduct  us  to  this  conclusion.  Nay,  still  further,  it 
teaches  us  that  the  vibrations  and  changes  which  our  words 
and  actions  produce  upon  the  universe  shall  never  cease  their 
action  and  reaction  till  materialism  be  no  more. 

We  venture,  then,  to  push  this  thought  of  the  ingenious 
mathematician  into  another  sphere,  which  he  did  not  enter. 
The  majority,  probably^  of  the  ablest  expounders  of  the 
Bible  have  maintained,  as  previously  shown,  that  the  apostle 
Peter  most  unequivocally  teaches  us  that  the  new  heavens,  or 
atmosphere,  and  the  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteous- 
ness, are  merely  our  present  earth  and  atmosphere,  melted 
and  burnt  by  the  fires  of  the  last  day,  and  fitted  up  anew, — 
a  second  and  a  lovelier  paradise,  —  to  be  the  everlasting  abode 
of  holiness  and  happiness.  Indeed,  to  attempt  to  fix  any 
other  meaning  upon  Peter's  language  makes  of  it  a  most  ab- 
surd jumble  of  literal  and  figurative  expressions,  and  produces 
an  inversion  of  chronological  events.  But,  admitting  the  lit- 
eral meaning  of  the  apostle  to  be  the  true  one,  then  those 
reactions,  produced  by  our  words  and  conduct  upon  the  pres- 
ent world,  shall  not  be  destroyed  by  the  fires  of  the  last  day, 
but  reappear  in  the  new  economy,  and  modify  the  pulsations 
of  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth  through  all  eternity. 

But  even  though  heaven  should  be  in  some  other  part  of 
the  universe,  and  not  this  earth  refitted,  yet,  if  it  be  a  mate- 
rial residence,  why,  on  the  principles  already  explained, 
should   it   not  be   reached   and    affected   by   those  vibrations 


WILL  EXTEND  TO  THE  NEW  HEAVENS  AND  NEW  EARTH.  415 

which  the  laws  of  mathematics  assure  us  are  now  spreading 
from  each  individual,  as  a  centre,  through  the  whole  uni- 
verse ?  The  conflagration  of  the  earth  will  alter  its  chemical 
constitution,  and  convert  matter  into  new  forms ;  but  the 
mechanical  character  of  the  atoms  will  not  be  destroyed ; 
and  when  they  emerge  from  the  final  catastrophe,  in  new  and 
brighter  forms,  they  may  still  bear  and  exhibit  the  impress 
of  every  word  and  every  action  which  they  now  receive. 

Such  representations  as  these,  I  am  aware,  will,  upon  first 
thought,  seem  to  most  minds  little  better  than  the  dreams  of 
fancy,  although  founded  upon  the  laws  of  mathematics.  For 
how  soon  does  every  trace  disappear  from  the  earth  of  the 
most  terrible  convulsions  and  the  mightiest  human  efforts ! 
The  shout  of  countless  multitudes,  the  thunder  and  the  crash 
of  battle,  and  even  the  volcano's  bellowing,  are  soon  suc- 
ceeded by  unbroken  silence ;  and  we  cannot  discover  a  trace 
of  any  of  those  countless  scenes  of  noise  and  convulsion  that 
have  been  acted  upon  the  world's  busy  stage.  How  prac- 
tically absurd,  then,  to  imagine  that  any  influence  goes  out 
from  the  feeble  efforts  of  individuals,  that  can  be  recognized, 
either  now  or  hereafter,  on  the  wide  field  of  the  universe ! 

Such  objections  as  these,  however,  are  based  upon  the  im- 
pression, of  which  it  is  hard  to  divest  ourselves,  that  our 
present  means  of  distinguishing  the  effects  of  physical  forces 
are  as  perfect  as  we  can  hope  for  in  eternity.  And  yet,  who 
will  doubt  that,  when  our  present  gross  bodies  shall  be  laid 
aside,  the  soul,  looking  forth  from  a  spiritual  body,  with 
quickened  powers  and  unobstructed  vision,  shall  penetrate  a 
new  world  in  the  infinitesimal  parts  of  creation  ?  What  ab- 
surdity in  the  supposition  that  then  the  minutest  movement 
among  the  atoms,  which  can  now  be  discovered  only  by  the 
mathematics  of  quantities  infinitely  small,  may  then  stand  out 


416  THE    TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM    OF    THE    UNIVERSE. 

as  distinctly  to  our  inspection  as  do  now  the  features  of  the 
landscape  ?  What  absurdity  in  the  supposition  that,  even 
now,  there  are  finite  minds  in  the  universe  who  possess  this 
quickened  power  of  perception,  and,  though  in  distant  worlds, 
do  actually  know  what  is  passing  here  by  the  vibrations 
which  our  words  and  actions  produce  upon  elastic  matter  ? 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  of  the  influence  of  our  words  and 
actions  only  upon  the  material  universe,  although  the  princi- 
ple with  which  I  started  includes  thoughts  also.  But  are  not 
actions  merely  the  external  manifestation  of  thoughts  and 
purposes  ?  and,  therefore,  is  not  thought  the  efficient  agency 
that  impresses  the  universe  ?  I  shall  also  attempt  to  show 
that  there  are  other  modes  in  which  the  intellect  may  do  this, 
aside  from  ordinary  words  and  actions. 

But  I  proceed  to  the  second  proof  of  the  general  principle. 
And  I  derive  it  from  what  may  he  called  optical  reactions  ; 
that  is,  the  reaction  of  light  and  the  substances  on  which  it 
impinges.  These  exert  such  an  influence  upon  it,  that,  when 
it  is  thrown  back  from  them,  and  enters  the  organs  of  vision, 
or  even  a  transparent  lens,  with  a  screen  behind  it,  it  pro- 
duces an  image  of  those  objects  ;  in  other  words,  what  we 
call  vision. 

Now,  it  is  this  fact,  in  connection  with  the  progressive  mo- 
tion of  light,  that  forms  the  basis  of  this  branch  of  the  argu- 
ment. Though  light  moves  with  such  immense  velocity,  that, 
for  all  practical  purposes  on  earth,  it  is  instantaneous,  yet,  in 
fact,  it  does  occupy  a  little  more  than  a  second  for  every  two 
hundred  thousand  miles  which  it  passes  over.  Hence  a  flash 
of  lishtning  occurrinij  on  earth  would  not  be  visible  on  the 
moon  till  a  second  and  a  quarter  afterwards  ;  on  the  sun,  till 
eight  minutes  ;  at  the  planet  Jupiter,  when  at  its  greatest  dis- 
tance  from   us,   till  fifty-two   minutes ;    on   Uranus,   till  two 


OPTICAL    REACTIONS.  417 

hours  ;  on  Neptune,  till  four  hours  and  a  quarter  ;  on  the  star 
of  Vega,  of  the  first  magnitude,  till  forty-five  years;  on  a 
star  of  the  eighth  magnitude,  till  one  hundred  and  eighty 
years  ;  and  on  a  star  of  the  twelfth  magnitude,  till  four  thou- 
sand years ;  and  stars  of  this  magnitude  are  visible  through 
telescopes  ;  nor  can  we  doubt  that,  with  better  instruments, 
stars  of  far  less  magnitude  might  be  seen  ;  so  that  we  may 
confidently  say  that  this  flash  of  lightning  would  not  reach 
the  remotest  heavenly  body  till  more  than  six  thousand 
years  —  a  period  equal  to  that  which  has  elapsed  since  man's 
creation. 

Now,  suppose  that,  on  these  different  heavenly  bodies, 
beings  exist  with  organs  of  vision  sufficiently  acute  to  discern 
a  flash  of  lightning  on  earth,  or,  rather,  to  see  all  the  scenes 
on  that  hemisphere  of  our  world  that  is  turned  towards  them ; 
it  is  obvious  that,  on  the  remotest  star,  the  earth  would  be 
seen,  at  this  moment,  just  coming  forth  from  the  Creator's 
hand,  in  all  the  freshness  of  Eden's  glories,  with  our  first 
parents  in  the  beauty  of  innocence  and  happiness,  and  all  the 
beasts  of  the  field  and  the  fowls  of  the  air  playing  around 
them.  On  a  star  of  the  twelfth  magnitude  would  be  seen 
the  world  as  it  showed  itself  four  thousand  years  ago  ;  on  a 
star  of  the  eighth  magnitude,  as  it  appeared  one  hundred  and 
eighty  years  ago  ;  and  so  on  to  the  moon,  where  would  be 
seen  the  occurrences  of  the  present  moment.  And  since 
there  are  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand  worlds,  scattered 
through  these  extremes  of  distance,  is  it  not  clear  that,  taking 
them  all  together,  they  do  at  this  moment  contain  a  vast  pan- 
orama of  the  world's  entire  history,  since  the  hour  when  the 
morning  stars  sang  together,  and  the  sons  of  God  shouted  for 
joy  on  creation's  morning  ? 

"  Thus,"  says  the  unknown  author  of  a  little  work  entitled 


418  THE    TELEGKAPHIC    SYSTEM    OF    THE    UNIVERSE. 

"  The  Stars  and  the  Earth,"  in  which  these  ideas  were  first 
developed  —  thus  the  universe  encloses  the  pictures  of  the 
past,  like  an  indestructible  and  incorruptible  record,  contain- 
ing the  purest  and  the  clearest  truth  ;  and  as  sound  propa- 
gates itself  in  the  air,  wave  after  wave,  or,  to  take  a  still  clearer 
example,  as  thunder  and  lightning  are  in  reality  simultaneous, 
but  in  the  storm  the  distant  thunder  follows  at  the  interval  of 
minutes  [seconds  ?  ]  after  the  flash,  so,  in  like  manner,  ac- 
cording to  our  ideas,  the  pictures  of  every  occurrence  propa- 
gate themselves  into  the  distant  ether,  upon  the  wings  of  the 
ray  of  light ;  and  although  they  become  weaker  and  smaller, 
yet,  in  immeasurable  distance,  they  still  have  color  and  form ; 
and  as  every  thing  possessing  color  and  form  is  visible,  so 
must  these  pictures  also  be  said  to  be  visible,  however  im- 
possible it  may  be  for  the  human  eye  to  perceive  it  with  the 
hitherto  discovered  optical  instruments." 

This  last  statement  of  the  writer  every  one  will  acknowledge 
is  true  when  applied  to  God  ;  for  who  will  doubt  that  his  eye 
can  take  in  at  a  glance  that  universe  which  he  has  made  ? 
And  to  do  that  is  to  have  before  him  the  entire  daily  history 
of  our  globe ;  nay,  probably,  also,  of  every  other  world. 
Indeed,  such  a  supposition  affords  us  a  lively  conception  of 
the  divine  omniscience,  since  we  have  only  to  suppose  this 
panorama  of  the  indefinite  past  to  extend  indefinitely  into  the 
future,  and  the  infinite  picture  will  also  be  present  at  this 
moment  before  the  divine  mind. 

But  is  the  supposition  an  absurdity,  that  there  may  be  in 
the  universe  created  beings,  with  powers  of  vision  acute 
enough  to  take  in  all  these  pictures  of  our  world's  history,  as 
they  make  the  circuit  of  the  numberless  suns  and  planets  that 
lie  embosomed  in  boundless  space  ?  Suppose  such  a  being 
at  this  moment  upon  a  star  of  the  twelfth  magnitude,  with  an 


HDMAN    HISTORY    READ    BY    OTHER    BEINGS.  419 

eye  turned  toward  the  earth.  He  might  see  the  deluge  of 
Noah,  just  sweeping  over  the  surface.  Advancing  to  a  nearer 
star,  he  would  see  the  patriarch  Abraham  going  out,  not 
knowing  whither  he  went.  Coming  still  nearer,  the  vision  of 
the  crucified  Redeemer  would  meet  his  gaze.  Coming  nearer 
still,  he  might  alight  upon  worlds  where  all  the  revolutions 
and  convulsions  of  modern  times  would  fall  upon  his  eye. 
Indeed,  there  are  worlds  enough  and  at  the  right  distances, 
in  the  vast  empyrean,  to  show  him  every  event  in  human 
history. 

We  may  proceed  a  step  farther,  and  inquire  whether  such 
an  exaltation  of  vision  as  we  have  supposed  may  not  be  here- 
after enjoyed  by  the  glorified  human  mind  when  it  passes  into 
the  spiritual  body.  We  can  hardly  believe  such  a  transfor- 
mation possible.  But  suppose  an  individual  born  blind  to 
grow  up  to  manhood  and  intelligence  without  ever  having 
been  told  any  thing  about  vision.  Then  suppose  the  oculist 
to  attempt  an  operation  for  the  restoration  of  his  sight,  and,  to 
prepare  him  for  the  transition,  let  the  wonders  of  human  vision 
be  described  to  him,  and  he  be  told  that,  by  a  few  moments 
of  suffering,  he  can  be  put  in  possession  of  this  astonishing 
faculty ;  would  it  not  appear  as  improbable  to  him  as  it  now 
does  to  us,  to  imagine  that  our  vision  can  be  so  clarified  and 
exalted,  that  we  can  discern  the  events  which  are  passing  in 
distant  worlds  as  easily  as  we  now  do  those  immediately 
around  us. 

But  if  such  a  power  of  reading  human  history,  from  its 
panorama  spread  out  on  the  face  of  the  universe,  be  now  pos- 
sessed by  unfallen  beings  in  other  spheres,  what  idea  must 
they  form  of  the  character  of  man  ?  At  one  time,  they  must 
regard  the  race  as  given  up  to  hopeless  rebellion,  and  the 
inflictions  of  vindictive  justice.     And  then,  anon,  they  would 


420     THE  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM  OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

see  the  sceptre  of  mercy  stretched  out,  and  a  few  faithful 
soldiers  marching  under  the  banner  of  virtue  and  fighting  the 
battles  of  the  Lord.  Surely  they  would  need  a  revelation  to 
understand  the  anomalies  and  solve  the  paradoxes  which 
passed  under  their  eyes.  They  would  wonder  why  a  world 
so  filled  with  tokens  of  divine  goodness,  yet  so  disfigured  by 
wickedness  in  every  form,  had  not  long  since  been  struck 
from  its  orbit  by  the  hand  of  divine  justice. 

Thus  far,  in  the  present  argument,  I  have  been  following, 
for  the  most  part,  in  the  track  marked  out  by  others.  But  I 
now  venture  to  advance  into  regions  hitherto  untrodden  for 
any  such  purpose  ;  yet  I  trust  that  the  light  which  we  may  find 
to  guide  our  steps  may  not  prove  the  bewildering  gleam  of 
an  ignis  fatuus,  but  the  lamp  of  true  science. 

My  third  argument  is  based  upon  electric  reactions. 

Whatever  may  be  the  true  nature  of  electricity,  it  is  con- 
venient, and  probably  leads  to  no  error,  to  speak  of  it  as  a 
fluid,  or  rather  two  fluids.  For  we  find  two  kinds  of  electricity, 
denominated  positive  and  negative ;  and  it  is  a  general  fact, 
that,  when  a  body  is  brought  into  one  electrical  state,  it  throws 
other  bodies  around  it  into  the  opposite  state,  by  a  power  called 
induction.  Those  bodies,  whose  electrical  condition  has  been 
thus  altered,  will  act  on  others  lying  in  a  remoter  circle,  and 
these  upon  others,  and  so  on,  we  cannot  tell  how  widely,  for 
we  have  reason  to  suppose  that  electricity  is  a  power  that 
extends  through  all  nature.  It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  it 
is  the  force  which  constitutes  what  we  call  chemical  affinity, 
by  which  the  constituent  parts  of  all  compound  bodies  are 
held  together ;  and  in  those  stony  and  metallic  masses,  that 
occasionally  fall  from  the  heavens,  we  have  proof  that  this 
same  power  holds  sway  in  other  worlds  ;  for  the  most  reason- 
able supposition  is,  that  these  meteors  move  like  the  planets 


ELECTRIC    REACTIONS.  421 

through  the  regions  of  celestial  space,  and  give  us  some  idea 
of  the  constitution  of  planetary  worlds.  If  so,  the  sanrie  chem- 
ical laws,  and,  of  course,  the  same  chemical  forces,  prevail 
there  as  in  our  planet.  Indeed,  the  uniformity  of  nature  would 
lead  us  to  such  a  conclusion  were  there  no  facts  like  those  of 
meteors  to  teach  it  directly.  It  follows,  from  these  princi- 
ples, that,  whenever  we  change  the  electrical  condition  of 
bodies  around  us,  we  start  a  movement  to  whose  onward 
march  we  can  assign  no  limits  but  the  material  universe. 
These  waves  of  influence  consist  of  a  series  of  attractions  and 
repulsions,  and  are  independent  of  the  mechanical  reactions 
already  considered,  which  are  produced  by  onward  impulses 
alone. 

Now,  a  change  in  the  electric  condition  of  bodies  is  pro- 
duced often  by  the  slightest  mechanical,  chemical,  thermal, 
physiological,  and  probably  even  mental  change  in  man.  The 
usual  way  of  exciting  currents  of  electricity  is  by  friction. 
But  chemical  action,  as  in  the  galvanic  battery,  produces  a 
still  more  energetic  and  uninterrupted  current.  The  slightest 
change  of  temperature,  also,  may  disturb  the  electric  equi- 
librium perceptibly.  It  has  been  of  late  ascertained,  likewise, 
that  a  change  of  physiological  condition  —  that  is,  a  change  as 
to  healthy  and  normal  action  —  affects  the  electricity  of  the 
parts  of  the  system,  and  consequently  of  surrounding  bodies. 
Substitute  a  man  in  the  place  of  a  galvanic  battery,  making 
his  two  hands  the  electrodes,  and  there  will  go  out  from  him 
an  electric  current,  that  shall  sensibly  deflect  the  needle  of  a 
galvanometer,  an  instrument  employed  for  showing  the  pres- 
ence of  small  portions  of  electricity. 

Nay,  further,  it  seems  to  be  most  probably  established  as 
a  fact  in  science,  that  a  man,  in  the  condition  above  specified, 
by  a  simple  act  of  his  will  upon  his  muscles,  by  which  those 
36 


422     THE  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM  OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

of  one  arm  only  shall  be  braced,  will  thereby  send  an  elec- 
trical current  of  one  sort  through  the  galvanometer,  while  a 
like  volition,  which  shall  brace  the  muscles  of  the  other  arm, 
will  set  in  motion  an  opposite  current. 

It  is  also  ascertained,  that  of  the  two  sorts  of  nerves  which 
supply  every  muscle,  the  nerve  of  sensibility  is  a  positive  pole 
of  a  Voltaic  circuit,  while  the  nerve  of  motion,  or  the  muscle 
into  which  it  passes,  is  a  negative  pole.  So  that  the  sensor 
nerves  act  as  electric  telegraphs  to  carry  the  sensations  to  the 
brain,  and  inform  it  what  is  needed,  while  the  motor  nerves 
bring  back  the  volition  to  the  muscles  —  the  brain  acting  as  a 
galvanic  battery,  very  much  like  the  electric  organs  of  certain 
fishes. 

From  these  statements  it  clearly  follows,  that,  besides  the 
mechanical  effects  produced  by  our  actions,  there  is  also  an 
electric  influence  excited  and  propagated  by  almost  every 
muscular  effort,  every  chemical  change  within  us,  every  vari- 
ation in  the  state  of  health,  or  vigor,  and  especially  by  every 
mental  effort ;  for  no  thought,  probably,  can  pass  through  the 
mind  which  does  not  alter  the  physiological,  chemical,  and 
electric  condition  of  the  brain,  and  consequently  of  the  whole 
system.  The  stronger  the  emotion,  the  greater  the  change  ; 
so  that  those  great  mental  efforts,  and  those  great  decisions 
of  the  will,  which  bring  along  important  moral  effects,  do  also 
make  the  strongest  impression  upon  the  material  universe. 
We  cannot  say  how  widely,  by  means  of  electric  force,  they 
reach ;  but  if  so  subtile  a  power  does,  as  we  have  reason  to 
suppose,  permeate  all  space,  and  all  solid  matter,  there  may 
be  no  spot  in  the  whole  universe  where  the  knowledge  of 
our  most  Secret  thoughts  and  purposes,  as  well  as  our  most 
trivial  outward  act,  may  not  be  transmitted  on  the  lightning's 
wing ;  and  it  may  be,  that,  out  of  this  darkened  world,  there 


ODYLIC    REACTION.  423 

may  not  be  found  any  spot  where  beings  do  not  exist  with 
sensibiUties  keen  enough  to  learn,  through  electric  changes, 
what  we  are  doing  and  thinking. 

If  there  be  no  absurdity  in  supposing  that  even  the  mechan- 
ical influence  of  our  actions  may  be  felt  throughout  the  uni- 
verse, still  less  is  it  absurd  to  infer  the  same  results  from 
electric  agencies. 

It  would  seem,  from  recent  discoveries,  that  electricity  has 
a  more  intimate  connection  with  mental  operations  than  any 
other  physical  force.  If  not  identical  wUh  the  nervous  influ- 
ence, it  seems  to  be  employed  by  the  mind  to  accompany  that 
influence  to  every  part  of  the  system  ;  and  the  greater  the 
mental  excitement,  the  more  energetic  the  electric  movement. 
It  seems  to  us  a  marvellous  discovery,  which  enables  man  to 
convey  and  register  his  thoughts  at  the  distance  of  thousands 
of  miles  by  the  electric  wires.  Should  it  excite  any  higher 
wonder  to  be  told,  that,  by  means  of  this  same  power,  all  our 
thoughts  are  transmitted  to  every  part  of  the  universe,  and 
can  be  read  there  by  the  acute r  perceptions  of  other  beings 
as  easily  as  we  can  read  the  types  or  hieroglyphics  of  the 
electric  telegraph  ?  Yet  what  a  startling  thought  is  it,  that 
the  most  secret  workings  of  our  minds  and  hearts  are  momen- 
tarily spread  out  in  legible  characters  over  the  whole  material 
universe  !  nay,  that  they  are  so  woven  into  the  texture  of  the 
universe,  that  they  will  constitute  a  part  of  its  web  and  woof 
forever  !  To  believe  and  realize  this  is  difficult ;  to  deny  it 
is  to  go  in  the  face  of  physical  science.  How  many  things 
we  do  believe  that  are  sustained  by  evidence  far  less  sub- 
stantial ! 

My  fourth  argumenl  in  support  of  the  general  principle  is 
based  upon  odylic  reaction. 

And  what  is  odylic  reaction  ?    What  is  odyle  }    you  will 


424     THE  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM  OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

doubtless  inquire.  It  is,  indeed,  a  branch  of  science  emphatically 
new.  I  know  of  no  account  of  it,  save  what  appears  in  a  late 
work,  of  nearly  five  hundred  pages,  by  Baron  Reichenbach, 
of  Vienna,  entitled  "  Researches  on  Magnetism,  Electricity, 
Heat,  Light,  Crystallization,  and  Chemical  Attraction,  in  their 
Relations  to  the  Vital  Force,"  translated  by  William  Gregory, 
professor  of  chemistry  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  This 
writer  endeavors  to  show,  by  a  great  number  of  experiments, 
that  there  exists  in  all  bodies,  and  throughout  the  universe,  a 
peculiar  principle,  analogous  to  magnetism,  electricity,  light, 
and  heat,  yet  distinct  from  them  all,  to  which  he  gives  the 
name  of  odyle.  It  is  most  manifest  in  powerful  magnets  ; 
next  in  crystals,  and  exists  in  the  human  body,  the  sun,  moon, 
stars,  heat,  electricity,  chemical  action,  and,  in  fact,  the  whole 
material  universe.  Those  who  are  most  sensitive  to  this  in- 
fluence are  persons  of  feeble  health,  especially  somnambu- 
lists ;  but  it  is  found  that  about  one  third  of  individuals,  taken 
promiscuously,  and  many  in  good  health,  are  sensible  of  it ; 
and  it  was  by  a  series  of  observations  on  persons  of  all  classes 
and  conditions  for  years,  that  the  facts  have  been  elicited. 
The  inquiry  seems  to  have  been  conducted  with  great  fairness 
and  scientific  skill,  and  the  author  has  the  confidence  of  sev- 
eral of  the  most  distinguished  scientific  men  in  Europe.  If 
there  be  no  mistake  in  the  results,  they  promise  to  explain 
philosophically  many  popular  superstitions,  and  also  the  phe- 
nomena of  mesmerism,  without  a  resort  to  superhuman  agen- 
cy, either  satanic  or  angelic.  They  yield,  also,  an  interesting 
support  to  the  principle  of  this  lecture.  Says  Baron  Reich- 
enbach, "  There  is  nothing  in  these  observations  [which  he 
had  just  detailed]  that,  after  the  contents  of  the  preceding 
treatises,  can  much  surprise  us  ;  but  they  are  certainly  a  fine 
additional  confirmation  of  what  has  been  stated  in  regard  to 


CHEMICAL    REACTION.  425 

the  sun  and  moon,  and  also  of  the  fact  that  the  whole  material 
universe,  even  heyond  our  earth,  acts  on  us  with  the  very- 
same  kind  of  influence  which  resides  in  all  terrestrial  objects  ; 
and  lastly,  it  shows  that  we  stand  in  a  connection  of  mutual 
influence,  hitherto  unsuspected,  with  the  universe  ;  so  that,  in 
fact,  the  stars  are  not  altogether  devoid  of  action  on  our  sub- 
lunary, perhaps  even  on  our  practical,  world,  and  on  the  men- 
tal processes  of  some  heads."  —  P.  162. 

By  the  experiments  here  referred  to  by  this  author,  he  had 
endeavored  to  show,  that  even  the  light  of  the  stars  exerted 
an  odylic  influence  upon  the  human  system  ;  that  is,  certain 
effects  independent  altogether  of  their  light;  and  if  there  be 
no  mistake  in  the  experiments,  they  certainly  do  show  this. 
Such  a  fact  almost  realizes  the  suggestions  already  made, 
that  beings  in  other  spheres  may  possess  such  an  exaltation 
of  sensibilities  as  to  be  able  to  learn  what  is  going  on  in  this 
world,  and  that  it  is  easy  to  conceive  how  our  sensorium  may 
be  raised  to  the  same  exalted  pitch. 

My  fft.h  argument^  illustrative  of  the  general  principle.,  is 
based  upon  chemical  reaction. 

Mechanical  reaction  changes  the  form  and  position  of 
bodies  ;  chemical  reaction  alters  their  constitution.  By  the 
decomposition  of  some  compounds,  the  elements  are  obtained 
for  forming  others ;  and  such  changes  are  going  on  around 
us  and  within  us  in  great  numbers  unperceived.  In  the  worlds 
above  us,  and  in  the  earth  beneath  us,  from  its  circumference 
to  its  centre,  the  transmutations  of  chemistry  are  in  progress, 
and  many  of  them  are  modified  by  the  agency  of  man  ;  so 
that  here  is  another  channel  through  which  human  actions 
exert  an  influence  upon  the  material  universe,  and  to  an  extent 
which  we  cannot  measure.  Let  us  look  at  some  of  the  modes 
in  which  this  is  done. 
36* 


426  THE    TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM    OF    THE    UNIVERSE. 

Take,  in  the  first  place,  the  facts  respecthig  photography, 
or  the  art  of  obtaining  sketches  of  objects  by  means  of  the 
action  of  light.  This  is  strictly  a  chemical  process.  In  a 
beam  of  light,  that  comes  to  us  from  the  sun,  we  find  not 
only  rays  of  light  and  heat,  but  chemical  rays,  which  act 
upon  some  bodies  to  change  their  constitution.  When  these 
rays  are  reflected  from  a  human  countenance,  and  fall  upon 
a  silvered  plate,  that  has  been  coated  with  iodine  and  bromine, 
they  leave  an  impression,  which  is  fixed  and  brought  out  as  a 
portrait  by  the  vapor  of  mercury  and  some  other  agents. 
Here  the  chemical  changes  produced  by  these  rays  are  ex- 
'ceedingly  perfect ;  but  they  produce  effects  upon  many  other 
substances,  artificially  or  naturally  prepared  ;  such  as  paper, 
for  instance,  immersed  in  a  solution  of  bichromate  of  potash, 
or  upon  vegetation,  whose  green  color  is  probably  the  result 
of  this  action,  (as  is  obvious  from  the  fact  that  plants  grow- 
ing in  the  dark  are  destitute  of  color.)  Indeed,  a  large  part 
of  the  changes  of  color  in  nature  depend  upon  these  invis- 
ible rays. 

It  seems,  then,  that  this  photographic  influence  pervades  all 
nature  ;  nor  can  we  say  where  it  stops.  We  do  not  know 
but  it  may  imprint  upon  the  world  around  us  our  features,  as 
they  are  modified  by  various  passions,  and  thus  fill  nature 
with  daguerreotype  impressions  of  all  our  actions  that  are 
performed  in  daylight.  It  may  be,  too,  that  there  are  tests 
by  which  nature,  more  skilfully  than  any  human  photogra- 
phist, can  bring  out  and  fix  those  portraits,  so  that  acuter  senses 
than  ours  shall  see  them,  as  on  a  great  canvas,  spread  over 
the  material  universe.  Perhaps,  too,  they  may  never  fade 
from  that  canvas,  but  become  specimens  in  the  great  picture 
gallery  of  eternity. 

The  thought  may  perhaps  cross  some  mind,  that,  though 


CHEMICAL    REACTION.  427 

those  human  actions  which  are  performed  in  sunlight  may  be 
imprinted  upon  the  universe,  yet  no  deed  of  darkness  can 
thus  reveal  its  author,  and  remain  an  eternal  stigma  upon  his 
name.  But  there  is  another  phase  to  this  subject.  What  is 
the  evidence  that  the  chemical  rays  of  a  sunbeam  are  rays 
of  light  ?  We  know  that  they  are  unequally  diffused  through 
the  spectrum,  being  most  energetic  at  its  violet  extremity ; 
but  there  is  no  proof  that  they  are  visible.  They  may,  like 
heat,  exert  their  appropriate  influence,  which  seems  to  be 
mainly  that  of  deoxidation,  and  yet  not  be  colorific.  If  so, 
we  might  expect  them  to  operate  in  the  dark  ;  and  experi- 
ment proves  that  they  do.  An  engraving  on  paper,  placed 
between  an  iodized  silver  plate  and  an  amalgamated  copper 
plate,  was  left  in  the  dark  for  fifteen  hours.  On  exposing 
the  amalgamated  plate  to  the  vapor  of  mercury,  "  a  very  nice 
impression  of  the  engraving  was  brought  out  —  it  having  been 
effected  through  the  thickness  of  the  paper."  —  Mr.  Hunt, 
"  On  the  Changes  which  Bodies  are  capable  of  undergoing  in 
Darkness^''''  Phil.  Mag.  vol.  xxii.  p.  277.  —  Many  like  experi- 
ments prove  the  existence,  among  bodies,  of  a  power  analo- 
gous to,  if  not  identical  with,  that  which  accompanies  light, 
and  is  the  basis  of  the  photographic  process.  Some  philoso- 
phers do  not  regard  them  as  identical.  But  this  is  of  little 
consequence  in  my  present  argument.  For  all  agree  that 
there  is  a  power  in  nature  capable  of  impressing  the  outlines 
of  some  objects  upon  others  in  total  darkness. 

In  respect  to  such  cases,  there  are  one  or  two  facts  deserv- 
ing of  special  notice.  And,  first.  We  must  not  infer,  be- 
cause man  has  yet  been  able  to  bring  out  to  human  view  but 
a  few  examples  of  this  sort,  that  they  are,  therefore,  few  in 
nature.  Rather  should  the  discovery  of  a  few  lead  to  the 
conclusion  that  nature  may  be  full  of  them,  and  that  a  more 


428     THE  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM  OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

delicate  and  refined  chemistry  may  yet  disclose  them.  For 
the  few  known  cases  give  us  a  glimpse  of  a  recondite  law  of 
nature,  which  most  likely  pervades  creation.  Some  regard 
these  dark  rays  as  neither  light,  nor  heat,  nor  chemical  rays, 
but  a  new  element ;  but,  whatever  its  nature,  no  reason  can 
be  given  why  it  should  operate  only  in  a  few  cases,  and  those 
of  artificial  preparation.  More  probably,  through  this  influ- 
ence, all  bodies  brought  into  contact,  or  proximity,  impress 
their  images  upon  one  another ;  and  the  time  may  come, 
when,  touched  by  a  more  subtile  chemistry  than  man  now 
wields,  these  images  shall  take  a  place  among  obvious  and 
permanent  things  in  the  universe,  to  the  honor  and  glory 
of  some,  but  to  the  amazement  and  everlasting  contempt 
of  more. 

Of  more,  I  say  ;  for  wickedness  has  oftener  sought  the  con- 
cealment of  darkness  than  modest  virtue.  The  foulest  enor- 
mities of  human  conduct  have  always  striven  to  cover  them- 
selves with  the  shroud  of  night.  The  thief,  the  counterfeiter, 
the  assassin,  the  robber,  the  murderer,  and  the  seducer,  feel 
comparatively  safe  in  the  midnight  darkness,  because  no  hu- 
man eye  can  scrutinize  their  actions.  But  what  if  it  should 
turn  out  that  sable  night,  to  speak  paradoxically,  is  an  unerr- 
ing photographist !  What  if  wicked  men,  as  they  open  their 
eyes  from  the  sleep  of  death,  in  another  world,  should  find 
the  universe  hung  round  with  faithful  pictures  of  their  earthly 
enormities,  which  they  had  supposed  forever  lost  in  the  obliv- 
ion of  night !  What  scenes  for  them  to  gaze  at  forever  ! 
They  may  now,  indeed,  smile  incredulously  at  such  a  sugges- 
tion ;  but  the  disclosures  of  chemistry  may  well  make  them 
tremble.  Analogy  does  make  it  a  scientific  probability  that 
every  action  of  man,  however  deep  the  darkness  in  which  it 
was  performed,  has  imprinted  its  image  upon  nature,  and  that 


CATALYSIS. 


429 


there  may  be  tests  which  shall  draw  it  into  dayhght,  and 
make  it  permanent  so  long  as  materialism  endures. 

There  is  another  chemical  principle,  called  catalysis^ 
through  which  human  actions  may  make  powerful  and  per- 
manent impressions  on  the  universe,  and  that,  too,  unperceived 
by  man.  In  some  cases,  the  mere  presence  of  a  certain 
agent,  in  a  small  quantity,  will  produce  extensive  changes  of 
constitution  in  other  bodies,  while  the  agent  itself  remains 
unaltered.  Thus  a  strip  of  platinum  will  determine  the 
union  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen  in  the  platinum  lamp ;  and 
sulphuric  acid,  in  a  solution  of  starch,  will  change  it  first  into 
gum,  and  then  into  sugar ;  while  neither  the  platinum  nor  the 
acid  experiences  any  change.  These  are  called  catalytic 
changes.  More  often,  however,  the  catalytic  agent  is  itself 
in  the  process  of  change,  and  it  produces  an  analogous 
change  in  other  bodies.  A  familiar  example  is  yeast,  or  fer- 
ment. This  substance  contains  a  principle  called  diastase^ 
one  part  of  which  is  capable  of  converting  two  thousand 
parts  of  starch  into  sugar ;  and  this  is  what  is  done  in  the 
familiar  process  of  fermentation,  when  we  always  see  verified 
the  scriptural  declaration,  A  little  leaven  leaveneth  the 
whole  lump. 

The  precise  manner  in  which  the  diastase  operates  in  these 
cases  we  may  not  be  able  to  explain.  The  particles  of  the 
diastase,  being  themselves  in  motion,  possess  the  power  of 
putting  in  motion  the  particles  of  other  bodies ;  and  these, 
again,  operate  upon  others,  and  so  on,  often  to  an  astonishing 
extent.  In  the  case  of  the  platinum  and  the  acid,  however, 
no  change  takes  place  in  their  molecules,  and  we  can  only 
state  it,  as  an  unexplained  fact,  that  they  do  produce  changes 
in  other  bodies. 

We  have  other  examples  of  catalytic  influences  in  nature, 


430  THE    TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM    OF    THE    UNIVERSE. 

exhibiting  an  agency  still  more  subtile  and  energetic.  I  refer 
to  contagious  and  epidemic  diseases  in  animals  and  plants. 
An  influence  goes  abroad,  and  seems  to  be  propagated 
through  the  atmosphere,  traversmg  whole  continents,  and 
crossing  wide  oceans,  powerful  and  deadly  in  its  effects,  yet 
inappreciable  by  the  most  delicate  mechanical  or  chemical 
tests.  But  the  phenomena  admit  of  explanation  by  supposing 
a  movement,  either  in  the  particles  of  the  atmosphere,  or  of 
the  still  more  subtile  and  elastic  medium  that  pervades  all 
space  ;  a  movement  started  at  a  particular  spot,  as  the  chol- 
era in  India,  and  the  small-pox  or  some  epidemic  from  some 
focus,  and  communicating  an  unhealthy  movement  from  atom 
to  atom,  till  it  has  encircled  the  earth  and  mowed  down  its 
hecatombs. 

Now,  when  we  look  at  such  facts,  who  can  suppose  it  im- 
probable that  man,  who  can  hardly  lift  a  finger  without  pro- 
ducing some  chemical  change,  should  start  some  of  these 
movements,  that  may  reach  far  beyond  his  imagination  ? 
And  here,  as  in  the  cases  that  have  preceded,  we  must  not 
estimate  the  actual  change  in  the  constitution  of  bodies  by 
the  apparent ;  for  we  know  that  multitudes  of  such  changes 
are  passing  within  us  and  around  us,  without  our  cognizance ; 
and  yet  there  may  be  chemical  eyes  in  the  universe  quick 
enough  to  see  them  all,  and  to  follow  them  onward  to  the 
final  result ;  for  there  must  be  a  final  resultant  of  all  such 
forces  ;  nor  can  we  doubt  that,  some  time  or  other,  and  to  some 
beings,  if  not  to  ourselves,  it  will  be  manifest.  Here,  then,  is 
another  mode  in  which  a  chemical  influence  may  go  forth 
from  us,  reaching  the  utmost  limits  of  matter  and  of  time  ; 
nay,  perhaps  extending  into  eternity,  and  revealing  our  ac- 
tions to  the  finer  sensibilities  of  exalted  beings. 

I  derive  my  sixth  argument  in  support  of  the  general  prin- 
ciple from  organic  reaction. 


ORGANIC    REACTION.  431 

Few  persons,  save  the  zoologist  and  comparative  anato- 
mist, have  any  idea  of  the  great  nicety  and  delicacy  of  the 
relations  that  exist  between  all  the  species  of  animals  and 
plants,  so  that  what  affects  one  affects  all  the  rest.  Per- 
haps the  subject  may  be  illustrated  by  supposing  all  the  spe- 
cies of  organic  beings  to  be  distributed  at  different  distances 
through  a  hollow  sphere,  while  between  them  all  there  is  a 
mutual  repulsion,  and  the  whole  are  retained  in  the  form  of  a 
sphere  by  an  attracting  force  directed  to  the  centre.  By 
such  an  arrangement,  if  one  species  be  taken  out  of  the 
sphere,  or  its  repellency  become  stronger  or  weaker,  the  rela- 
tive position  of  all  the  rest  would  be  altered.  No  matter 
how  many  millions  of  species  there  are,  the  movements  of 
one  will  cause  a  reaction  among  all  the  rest. 

Now,  this  illustration,  although  an  approximation,  falls 
short  of  representing  the  actual  state  of  things  in  nature.  It 
is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  a  relation  similar  to  the  sup- 
posed one  exists  throughout  the  vast  dominions  of  animate 
beings ;  so  that  you  cannot  obliterate  or  change  one  species 
without  affecting  all  the  rest.  Often  the  change  is  effected  so 
slowly  and  indirectly  that  the  beings  experiencing  it  are  un- 
conscious of  it ;  or  they  may  realize  some  slight  disturbance 
of  the  balance  in  organic  nature,  and  yet  be  unconscious  of 
the  cause.  By  the  illustration  above  given,  when  one  or  more 
species  is  removed  from  the  supposed  sphere,  or  its  repellent 
force  weakened  or  strengthened,  although  an  influence  will 
reach  all  the  other  species,  yet  a  new  equilibrium  will  soon  be 
established,  and  no  permanently  bad  effects  seem  to  follow. 
But  not  so  in  nature.  There  the  balance  originally  fixed  be- 
tween different  beings  by  infinite  wisdom  is  the  best  possible  ; 
and  every  change,  not  intended  by  Providence,  must  be  for 
the  worse.     It  was  intended,  for  instance,  that  man  should 


432     THE  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM  OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

subdue  forests  and  extirpate  noxious  plants,  as  well  as  fero- 
cious and  noxious  animals;  and,  therefore,  such  a  change 
operates  to  his  advantage,  but  to  the  injury  of  the  inferior  ani- 
mals. Yet  often  he  pushes  this  exterminating  process  so  far 
as  to  injure  himself  also.  Thus  the  farmer  wages  a  relentless 
war  against  certain  birds,  because  of  some  slight  evils  which 
they  occasion.  But  when  they  are  extirpated,  opportunity  is 
given  for  noxious  insects  to  multiply,  and  to  bring  upon  the 
farmer  evils  much  greater  than  those  he  thus  escapes. 

To  prevent  an  excessive  multiplication  of  some  species  is 
one  of  the  grand  objects  of  the  present  balance  established 
among  the  whole.  Such  an  increase  is  an  inevitable  effect 
of  the  extinction  of  a  species,  and  it  often  occasions  great 
mischief.  The  carnivorous  species,  especially,  were  intended 
to  act  as  nature's  police,  to  prevent  a  too  great  increase  of  the 
herbivorous  races,  which  are  rendered  excessively  fruitful  to 
keep  the  world  full.  If,  then,  a  carnivorous  species  become 
extinct,  the  species  on  which  it  has  fed  will  so  multiply  as  to 
prove  great  nuisances,  and  to  produce  wide  disorder  among 
many  species,  not  only  of  animals,  but  of  plants.  And  often 
has  man,  in  this  way,  by  the  extermination  of  species,  in  par- 
ticular districts,  unwittingly  brought  a  powerful  reaction  on 
himself. 

On  the  Island  of  New  Zealand,  within  one  or  two  hundred 
years  past,  eight  or  ten  species  of  gigantic  birds  —  the  dinor- 
nis  and  palapteryx  —  have  become  extinct,  probably  through 
the  persecution  of  man.  The  natives,  without  doubt,  hunted 
them  down  for  food,  until  all  disappeared  ;  and  as  no  quadru- 
ped of  much  size  inhabits  the  island,  we  think  there  is  no 
little  plausibility  in  the  suggestion  of  Professor  Owen,  that 
when  the  birds  were  all  gone,  or  nearly  gone,  the  natives  were 
tempted  to  the  practice  of  cannibalism,  as  the  only  means  of 


UNIVERSAL  AND  PERPETUAL.  433 

gratifying  their  passion  foi'  meat.  What  a  terrible  retribution 
for  disturbing  the  equilibrium  of  organic  nature  ! 

The  records  of  zoology  and  botany  afford  endless  illustra- 
tion of  this  subject.  But  the  great  truth  which  they  all  teach 
is,  that  so  intimately  are  we  related  to  other  beings,  that  al- 
most every  action  of  ours  reacts  upon  them  for  good  or  evil ; 
for  good,  upon  the  whole,  when  we  conform  to  the  laws  which 
God  has  established  ;  and  for  evil,  when  by  their  violation  we 
disturb  the  equilibrium  of  organized  nature,  and  produce  irreg- 
ular action.  In  this  latter  case,  we  cannot  tell  where  the  dis- 
turbance, thus  introduced,  will  end  ;  for  it  is  not  a  periodical 
oscillation,  like  the  perturbations  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  nor 
a  mere  change  of  position  and  intensity  by  mechanical  forces. 

But  does  not  this  law  of  mutual  influence  between  organic 
beings  extend  to  other  worlds  ?  Why  should  it  not  be  trans- 
mitted by  means  of  the  luminiferous  ether  to  the  limits  of  the 
universe  ?  Who  knows  but  a  blow  struck  upon  a  single  link 
of  organic  beings  here  may  be  felt  through  the  whole  circle 
of  animate  existence  in  all  worlds  ?  That  is  a  narrow  view 
of  God's  work,  which  isolates  the  organic  races  on  this  globe 
from  the  rest  of  the  universe.  The  more  philosophical  view 
throws  the  golden  chain  of  influence  around  the  whole  animal 
creation,  whether  small  or  great,  near  or  remote. 

Reverting  to  the  reasoning  which  we  employed  in  tracing 
out  the  extent  of  mechanical  reaction,  we  shall  see  that  or- 
ganic reaction  may  extend  not  only  to  other  worlds,  but  also 
into  eternity.  For  if  the  matter  of  the  universe  is  to  survive 
the  conflagration  of  the  last  day,  the  future  economy  of  life 
must  have  some  connection  with  the  present,  whether  this 
earth  or  some  other  part  of  the  universe  be  the  theatre  of  its 
development. 

I  speak  here  not  of  moral  influences,  which  we  know  will 
37 


434     THE  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM  OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

pass  over  from  time  into  eternity,  but  of  a  physical  reaction, 
which  may  also  reach  beyond  the  same  gulf.  For  at  least  a 
part  of  those  creatures,  who  in  this  world  have  felt  the  modi- 
fying power  of  other  beings,  will  survive  the  world's  final 
catastrophe,  and  occupy  material,  though  spiritual  bodies, 
whose  germ  is  represented  as  derived  from  their  bodies  on 
earth.  We  have  reason,  then,  to  suppose  some  connection 
and  modifying  influence  between  them.  And  we  might  show, 
also,  that  moral  causes,  which  so  affect  the  physical  character 
here,  may  exert  a  like  power  in  eternity.  But  time  will  not 
permit  the  argument  to  be  followed  out. 

The  conclusion,  then,  from  this  argument  also,  is,  that  prob- 
ably every  action  of  ours  on  earth  modifies  the  condition  and 
destiny  of  every  other  created  being  in  this  and  other  worlds 
through  time  and  eternity.  What  though  human  experience, 
dependent  on  the  bluntness  of  mortal  sensibilities,  cannot 
demonstrate  such  an  influence  ?  Shall  the  gross  perceptions 
of  this  disordered  world  be  made  the  standard  of  all  that 
exists  ?  Rather  let  us  listen  to  the  suggestions  of  science, 
which  tell  us  of  the  possibility  of  senses  far  more  acute  in 
other  worlds,  and  in  a  future  state  of  being  —  senses  that  can 
trace  out  and  feel  the  vibrations  of  the  delicate  web  of  or- 
ganic influence  that  binds  together  the  great  and  the  small, 
the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future,  throughout  the  universe. 

My  seventh  argument  in  support  of  the  general  principle 
depends  upon  mental  reaction. 

Mental  reaction  operates  in  two  ways  —  indirectly  and 
directly  ;  indirectly  through  matter,  directly  by  the  influ- 
ence of  mind  upon  mind,  without  an  intervening  medium. 
When  describing  electric  reactions,  I  have  shown  how  our 
thoughts  and  volitions  change  the  electric,  chemical,  and  even 
mechanical  condition  of  the  body,  and,  through  these  media, 


MENTAL    REACTION.  435 

that  of  all  the  material  universe  ;  and  I  need  not  repeat  that 
argument.  But  to  modify  the  inanimate  world  through  these 
agencies  necessarily  affects  all  other  intellects,  which  are 
connected  with  matter  ;  and  since  man  in  a  future  world  is  to 
assume  a  spiritual  body,  we  may  reasonably  suppose  that  all 
created  beings  are  in  some  way  connected  with  matter ;  and, 
therefore,  by  means  of  materialism,  through  the  subtile  agen- 
cies that  have  been  named,  we  ma}''  be  sure  that  an  influence 
goes  out  from  every  thought  and  volition  of  ours,  and  reaches 
every  other  intellect  in  the  wide  creation.  I  know  not  whether, 
in  other  worlds,  their  inhabitants  possess  sensibilities  acute 
enough  to  be  conscious  of  this  influence  ;  certainly,  in  this 
world,  it  is  only  to  a  limited  extent  that  men  are  conscious  of 
it.  Yet  we  must  admit  that  it  exists  and  acts,  or  deny  the 
demonstrated  verities  of  science. 

But  is  there  not  evidence  that  mind  sometimes  acts  directly 
upon  other  minds,  without  any  gross,  intervening  media  ?  It 
may,  indeed,  be  doubted  whether  any  created  intellect  oper- 
ates, except  in  connection  with  some  form  of  matter.  Yet 
there  are  certain  facts  in  the  history  of  individuals  in  an 
abnormal  state,  which  show  that  one  mind  acts  upon  another, 
independent  of  the  senses,  or  any  other  material  means  of 
intercommunication  discoverable  by  the  senses.  Take  the 
details  of  sleep-waking,  or  somnambulism ;  and  do  not  they 
present  us  with  numerous  cases  in  which  impressions  are 
made  by  one  mind  upon  another,  even  when  separated  beyond 
the  sphere  of  the  senses  ?  Take  the  facts  respecting  double 
consciousness,  and  those  where  the  power  was  possessed  of 
reading  the  thoughts  of  others,  or  the  facts  relating  to  pre- 
vision ;  and  surely  they  cannot  be  explained  but  by  the  sup- 
position of  a  direct  influence  of  one  mind  upon  another. 

Still  more  decided  in  this  respect  are  the  most  familiar  facts 


436     THE  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM  OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

of  artificial  somnambulism,  called  mesmerism.  Whatever 
may  be  our  views  of  this  unsettled  branch  of  knowledge  as  a 
whole,  it  would  seem  as  if  we  could  not  doubt  that  its  facts 
prove  the  action  of  mind  upon  mind,  independently  of  bodily 
organization,  without  rejecting  evidence  which  would  prove 
any  thing  else. 

Now,  if  we  admit  that  mind  does  operate  upon  other  minds 
while  we  are  in  the  body,  independent  of  the  body,  can  we 
tell  how  far  the  influence  extends  ?  If  electricity,  or  some 
other  subtile  agent,  be  essential  to  this  action,  it  would  indeed 
transfer  this  example  to  electric  reaction,  but  it  would  still  be 
real.  Yet,  in  the  absence  of  all  certain  proof  of  the  electric 
power  in  this  case,  and  with  certain  proof  of  the  existence  of 
such  an  influence,  we  may  place  it  among  those  marvellous 
means  by  which  man  makes  an  impression,  wide  beyond  our 
present  knowledge,  upon  the  universe,  material  and  mental ; 
and  it  ought  to  make  us  feel  that  our  lightest  thoughts  and 
feeblest  volitions  may  reach  the  outer  limit  of  intellectual  life, 
and  its  consequences  meet  us  in  distant  worlds,  and  far  down 
the  track  of  eternity. 

Finally.  I  derive  an  argument  in  sujjport  of  the  general 
principle  from  geological  reaction. 

By  this  expression,  I  mean  those  reactions  of  whose  exist- 
ence geology  furnishes  the  proof.  They  are,  in  fact,  the 
reactions  already  considered  ;  but  geology  proves  that  they 
have  actually  operated  in  past  time  in  many  instances,  by 
evidence  registered  on  the  rocks,  and  thus  tends  to  confirm 
our  reasoning  derived  from  other  sources.  I  do  not  mean 
that  the  proof  is  before  us  of  precisely  such  an  action  as  our 
reasoning  has  supposed,  but  so  analogous  to  that  supposed  as 
to  lend  it  confirmation.  A  few  examples  will  illustrate  the 
argument. 


GEOLOGICAL  REACTION.  437 

The  effects  of  mechanical  reaction  are,  perhaps,  most  fre- 
quent and  striking  in  the  rocks,  especially  those  deposited 
from  water.  Here  we  have,  for  instance,  the  ripple  marks, 
which  present  us  with  a  faithful  register  of  the  slightest  move- 
ment of  the  waters,  and  also  of  the  motions  of  the  atmosphere, 
or  of  the  currents  in  it,  that  agitated  the  waters.  In  the 
almost  impalpable  powder  that  sometimes  constitutes  the 
rocks,  we  can  trace  the  slightest  erosion  and  comminution 
of  the  strata  from  which  the  deposit  was  worn.  In  the  petri- 
fied rain  drops  we  find  an  indelible  trace  of  the  most  gentle 
shower.  And  here,  too,  we  can  see  the  direction  of  the  wind. 
Such  facts,  also,  imply  the  operation  of  electricity  and  gravity, 
of  heat  and  cold,  collecting  and  condensing  the  rain,  and 
bringing  it  down ;  and  so  similar  to  present  meteorological 
phenomena  do  these  ancient  showers  appear  to  have  been, 
that  we  may  conclude  that  electrical  reactions,  in  all  respects, 
were  the  same  as  at  present. 

The  preservation  of  the  tracks  of  numerous  animals  in  some 
of  the  sandstones  shows  us  how  deep  and  permanent  an  im- 
pression the  most  trivial  action  of  a  living  being  may  make. 
In  these  footmarks  we  sometimes  notice  a  change  in  the  di- 
rection of  the  animal  along  the  surface  ;  and,  of  course,  an 
impression  deeper  or  more  shallow  than  usual,  of  parts  of  the 
foot,  by  the  action  of  the  muscles  employed  in  changing  the 
animal's  course.  Here,  then,  we  have  the  register  of  so  slight 
an  action  as  an  increased  or  diminished  action  of  a  particular 
muscle  of  the  leg.  Nay,  further,  such  a  movement  affords 
us  an  infallible  register  of  an  act  of  the  animal's  will,  since 
that  must  have  preceded  the  change ;  and  that  implies  an 
electric  current,  first  inward  along  the  sensor  nerves,  and  then 
outward  along  the  motor  nerves. 

Geology  lays  open  before  us  a  map  of  the  changes  in  organic 
37* 


438  THE    TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM    OF    THE    UNIVEllSE. 

nature  from  the  apparent  commencement  of  life  on  the  globe, 
and  thus  enables  us  to  see  examples  of  this  kind  of  reaction. 
We  find  different  economies  of  life  to  have  appeared,  but  all 
of  them  most  wisely  adapted  to  existing  circumstances.  In 
each  economy  we  perceive  the  balance  between  the  different 
tribes  provided  for.  If,  for  instance,  one  race  of  carnivorous 
species  died  out,  new  races  were  created  to  occupy  their 
place,  so  that  the  herbivorous  species  should  not  overrun  the 
globe.  Thus,  when  the  early  sauroid  fishes  dinpinished,  the 
gigantic  and  carnivorous  marine  saurian  reptiles  were  intro- 
duced. And  when  the  chambered  shells,  whose  occupants 
were  carnivorous,  disappeared  with  the  secondary  period, 
numerous  univalve  mollusks  were  created  to  feed  on  other 
animals ;  although  previously  that  family  were  herbivorous. 
It  would  seem,  however,  as  if  each  successive  economy  of 
organic  life  had  contained  within  itself  the  seeds  of  extinc- 
tion. It  was,  indeed,  mainly  a  change  of  climate  which  first 
caused  some  species  to  disappear.  But  their  destruction  so 
disturbed  the  balance  of  creation  that  others  followed,  until 
total  extinction  was  the  result,  which,  however,  was  often 
hastened  by  catastrophes. 

Thus  we  have  in  the  stony  volume  of  the  earth's  history 
actual  examples  of  effects  resulting  from  the  acts,  and  even 
volitions,  of  the  inferior  animals,  which  can  never  be  erased 
while  the  rocks  endure. 

If,  therefore,  with  our  imperfect  senses,  we  can  see  these 
results  so  distinctly,  we  may  safely  infer  that  human  conduct, 
and  thought,  and  volition  impress  upon  the  globe,  nay,  upon 
the  universe,  marks  which  nothing  can  obliterate. 

The  thoughts  which  press  upon  the  mind,  in  view  of  such 
a  conclusion,  are  numerous  and  interesting.  A  few  we  can 
hardly  help  noticing. 


INFERENCES.  439 

In  the  first  place^  lohat  a  centre  of  influence  does  man 
occupy  ! 

It  is  just  as  if  the  universe  were  a  tremulous  mass  of  jelly, 
which  every  movement  of  his  made  to  vibrate  from  the  cen- 
tre to  the  circumference.  It  is  as  if  the  universe  were  one 
vast  picture  gallery,  in  some  part  of  which  the  entire  history 
of  this  world,  and  of  each  individual,  is  shown  on  canvas, 
sketched  by  countless  artists,  with  unerring  skill.  It  is  as  if 
each  man  had  his  foot  upon  the  point  where  ten  thousand  tel- 
egraphic wires  meet  from  every  part  of  the  universe,  and  he 
were  able,  with  each  volition,  to  send  abroad  an  influence 
along  these  wires,  so  as  to  reach  every  created  being  in 
heaven  and  in  earth.  It  is  as  if  we  had  the  more  than  Gorgon 
power  of  transmuting  every  object  around  us  into  forms  beau- 
tiful or  hideous,  and  of  sending  that  transmuting  process 
forward  through  time  and  through  eternity.  It  is  as  if  we 
were  linked  to  every  created  being  by  a  golden  chain,  and 
every  pulsation  of  our  heart  or  movement  of  our  mind  mod- 
ified the  pulsation  of  every  other  heart  and  the  movements 
of  every  other  intellect.  Wonderful,  wonderful  is  the  posi- 
tion man  occupies,  and  the  part  he  acts  !  And  yet  it  is  not 
a  dream,  but  the  deliberate  conclusion  of  true  science. 

Secondly.  We  see  m  this  subject  the  probability  that  our 
minutest  actions,  and  perhaps  our  thoughts,  from  day  to  day, 
are  knoivn  throughout  the  universe. 

I  speak  not  hero  of  the  divine  omniscience,  which  we 
know  reaches  every  thought  and  action  ;  but  I  refer  to  created 
beings.  Science  shows  us  how,  in  a  variety  of  modes,  such 
knowledge  may  be  conveyed  to  them  by  natural  agencies  ; 
and  we  have  only  to  suppose  them  to  be  possessed  of  far 
more  acute  sensibilities  than  man's,  in  order  to  be  affected  by 
these   agencies  as  we  are    by  more    powerful   impressions. 


440     THE  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM  OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

And  when  we  consider  how  fettered  and  depressed  a  condi- 
tion this  world  obviously  is  in,  because  of  its  sinfulness,  who 
will  doubt  but  the  unfallen  beings  of  other  spheres  may  enjoy 
those  keener  perceptions  that  will  bring  our  whole  history 
distinctly  before  them,  day  by  day  ?  The  thought  is,  indeed, 
startling,  but  not  unphilosophical. 

If  this  suggestion  be  true,  then  may  we  indulge  the  thought 
as  highly  probable  that  our  friends,  who  have  gone  before  us 
into  the  eternal  world,  may  be  as  familiar  with  our  conduct, 
our  words,  and  even  our  thoughts,  as  we  are  ourselves.  If 
we  are  acting  as  we  ought,  and  so  as  will  please  them,  this 
must  be  an  animating  idea ;  but  if  we  are  not,  let  it  serve  to 
stimulate  us  to  our  duty,  if  a  sense  of  the  divine  omniscience 
is  not  sufficient. 

We  infer  from  this  subject,  thirdly,  the  probahility  that,  in 
a  future  state,  the  power  of  reading  the  past  history  of  the 
world,  and  of  individuals,  may  he  possessed  hy  man. 

The  nature  of  the  future  spiritual  body,  and  of  the  heav- 
enly state  and  employments,  impresses  the  mind  with  the 
belief  that  it  will  be  a  condition  far  more  exalted  than  the 
present,  and  that  the  inlets  to  the  soul  will  be  cleared  of  all 
obstructions ;  so  that  no  impression  made  on  such  a  sensorium 
shall  fail  to  give  the  mind  a  distinct  perception.  In  heaven, 
such  extreme  sensibility  might  become  a  source  of  richest 
pleasure  ;  in  the  world  of  despair,  an  instrument  of  severe 
punishment ;  yet  in  both  cases  it  might  be  the  natural  result 
of  a  man's  earthly  course.  Now,  such  an  indefinite  exalta- 
tion of  the  perceptions  in  futurity  scarcely  any  one  will 
doubt.  Why  should  we  doubt  any  more  that  it  may  rise  so 
high  that  man  will  be  able  to  read,  through  the  agencies  we 
have  pointed  out,  the  minutest  action  and  thought  in  human 
experience  ?       If,    as    we    have    reason    to   suppose,   angels 


THE    SUICIDE.  441 

can  do  it  now,  the  Bible  informs  us  that  we  shall  be  like 
the   angels. 

If  this  view  be  admitted,  then  it  may  be  that  the  present 
world  is  the  only  spot  in  the  universe  where  deeds  of  wicked- 
ness can  be  concealed.  In  a  sinful  world  we  can  see  reasons 
why  the  power  of  concealment  should  exist  to  some  ex- 
tent. For  though  no  man  should  do  or  think  any  thing  which 
he  is  ashamed  to  have  known,  yet,  if  all  the  plans  of  men  for 
the  promotion  of  good  objects  were  fully  known  from  their 
inception,  the  wicked  could  generally  defeat  them.  But  in  a 
world  of  perfect  holiness  no  such  necessity  would  exist,  since 
the  universal  desire  would  be  to  promote  every  worthy  ob- 
ject ;  and,  therefore,  it  may  be  that  every  soul  will  lie  per- 
fectly open  to  the  inspection  of  all  other  souls — an  arrange- 
ment that  seems  appropriate  to  such  a  world. 

In  what  an  aspect  does  this  principle  present  the  conduct 
of  the  suicide  !  Tired  of  earthly  scenes,  he  rushes  unbidden 
into  eternity  to  escape  them.  But  instead  of  escaping  them, 
he  goes  where  every  one  of  these  mortal  evils  —  yea,  and 
multiplied,  too,  a  thousand  fold  —  shall  start  up  in  his  path 
with  a  distinctness  of  which  he  had  no  conception.  And 
henceforth  he  can  never  find,  as  in  this  world,  even  a  partial 
deliverance  from  their  terrible  vividness.  It  is  as  if,  to  avoid 
the  moonlight,  because  too  bright,  a  man  should  plunge 
into  the  sun. 

Again,  if  this  principle  be  true,  how  annoying  will  it  be,  to 
the  man  who  has  not  acted  well  his  part  in  this  world,  to  meet 
in  eternity  the  ever-recurring  mementoes  of  his  evil  deeds ! 
He  will  hardly  be  able  to  open  his  eyes  without  seeing  some 
plague-spot  on  creation  as  the  result  of  his  conduct ;  and 
although  infinite  wisdom  and  power  have  stayed  the  plague, 
no  thanks  are  due  to  him.     The  tendencies  of  his  conduct  on 


442     THE  TELEGRAPHIC  SYSTEM  OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

earth  will  be  most  distressing  to  look  upon ;  and  these  shall 
not  cease  to  lie  open  before  him  till  the  last  sand  in  the  glass 
of  eternity  is  run  out. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  how  does  this  principle  strew  the 
path  of  eternity  with  flowers  to  that  man  who,  in  this  world, 
finds  his  highest  pleasure  in  doing  good  !  Not  merely  his 
highest  and  noblest  deeds  of  benevolence  here  shall  loom  up 
in  bright  perspective  there,  but  a  thousand  acts  of  private 
beneficence,  unknown  to  the  world  and  forgotten  by  himself, 
shall  stand  out  distinctly  on  the  moving  panorama  of  that  bet- 
ter world  ;  and  he  will  be  amazed  to  see  what  a  wide  and 
blessed  influence  they  have  exerted,  and  will  exert,  as  the 
catalytic  influence  moves  on  and  widens  in  its  endless  march. 
It  might  have  ruined  him  to  see  these  fruits  in  this  world,  by 
exciting  pride  and  vain  glory ;  but  it  will  awaken  there  only 
gratitude  and  love  to  the  grace  that  enabled  him  thus,  in  time, 
to  sow  the  seeds  which  should  fill  eternity  with  flowers,  and 
fragrance,  and  golden  fruit. 

Finally.  What  new  and  astonishing  avenues  of  knoioledge 
does  this  subject  show  us  will  probably  open  upon  the  soul  in 
eternity  ! 

I  do  not  now  speak  of  the  new  knowledge  of  the  divine 
character  which  will  then  astonish  and  delight  the  soul  by 
direct  intuhion,  but  rather  of  those  new  channels  that  will 
be  thrown  open,  through  which  a  knowledge  of  other  worlds, 
and  of  other  created  beings,  can  be  conveyed  to  the  soul 
almost  inimitably.  And  just  consider  what  a  field  that  will 
be.  Ax  present  we  know  nothing  of  the  inhabitants  of  other 
worlds,  and  it  is  only  by  analogy  that  we  make  their  exist- 
ence probable.  Nor,  with  our  present  senses,  could  we  learn 
any  thing  respecting  them  but  by  an  actual  visit  to  each 
world.     But  let  the  suggestions  to  which  our  reasonings  have 


NEW    AVENUES    OF    KNOWLEDGE    IN    ETERNITY.  443 

conducted  us  prove  true,  —  let  our  sensorium  be  so  modified 
and  spiritualized  that  every  thought,  word,  and  action  in  those 
worlds  shall  come  to  us  through  pulsations  falling  upon  the 
organ  of  vision,  or  by  an  electric  current  through  the  nerve 
of  sensation,  or  by  some  transmitted  chemical  change,  —  and 
on  what  vantage  ground  should  we  be  placed  !  Without 
leaving  the  spot  of  our  residence,  supposing  the  universe  con- 
stituted as  it  now  is,  we  might  study  out  the  character  and 
constitution  of  the  countless  inhabitants  of  at  least  one  hun- 
dred millions  of  worlds,  which  we  know  to  exist ;  nay,  of  ten 
thousand  times  that  number,  which  probably  exist.  Every 
movement  of  matter  around  us,  however  infinitesimal,  would 
be  freighted  with  new  knowledge,  perhaps  from  distant 
spheres.  Every  ray  of  light  that  met  our  gaze  from  the 
broad  heavens  above  us  would  print  an  image  upon  our  visual 
organs  of  events  transpiring  in  distant  worlds,  while  every 
electrical  flash  might  convey  some  idea  to  our  mind  never 
before  thought  of.  Every  chemical  ray,  too,  might  inform  us 
of  scenes  far  off  in  the  regions  of  night ;  and  then  who  can 
calculate  what  organic  and  mental  influences  might  be  trans- 
mitted to  us  from  beings  of  all  ranks  and  scattered  through 
all  worlds  ?  To  speak  of  organs,  indeed,  as  the  medium  of 
perceptions  in  another  world,  may  be  absurd;  but  we  mean 
only,  by  that  term,  whatever  may  be  substituted  for  our  pres- 
ent organs ;  and  we  assume  that  the  properties  of  matter  will 
exist  forever  ;  and,  therefore,  we  may  presume  that  light,  and 
electricity,  and  chemical  affinity,  and  corporeal  and  mental 
influences  will,  under  modified  forms,  be  the  modes  by  which 
knowledge  shall  ever  be  transmitted.  At  least,  assuming  that 
they  will  be,  and  the  magnificent  conceptions  we  have  now 
traced  out  may  be  hereafter  realized.  And  surely,  if  they  be 
only  slightly   probable,   the   anticipation   is   full    of   thrilling 


444  THE    TELEGRAPHIC    SYSTEM    OF    THE    UNIVERSE. 

interest,  and  the  moral  effect  of  dwelling  upon  it  must  be  salu- 
tary. It  spreads  out  before  us  fields  of  knowledge  which 
eternity  can  never  exhaust,  and  attractive  so  immeasurably 
above  all  the  knowledge  of  earth  that  we  almost  wait  impa- 
tiently for  the  summons  to  break  from  our  prison-house  below, 
and  to  rise  on  our  new  pinions  to  celestial  scenes. 

If  such  rich  means  of  knowledge  of  created  things  be  en- 
joyed by  celestial  minds,  and  they  can  drink  it  in  to  the  full 
measure  of  their  faculties,  then  one  inevitable  effect  must  be 
to  make  them  unite,  ever  and  anon,  in  adoration  and  praise 
to  the  infinite  Being  who  created  and  sustains  all,  and  whose 
glory  is  illustrated  by  all  his  works.  And  we  can  conceive 
that  there  may  be  stated  periods,  when,  from  every  part  of 
the  universe,  the  anthem  of  praise  comes  rolling  onwards 
towards  some  central  spot,  where  the  divine  presence  is  most 
felt.  O,  how  gladly  will  each  happy  soul,  animated  by  every 
new  accession  of  knowledge,  join  in  the  swelling  peean  as  it 
mounts  up  to  the  third  heavens !  Who  knows  but  this  is  the 
hour  when  the  peal  is  beginning  ?  O,  let  not  this  world  be 
the  only  spot  in  the  universe  where  it  shall  be  unheard  and 
unheeded.  Surely  we  see  enough  of  the  divine  glory  here 
to  begin  the  song,  which  we  hope  to  pour  forth  in  loftier  notes 
on  high,  unto  the  King  eternal^  immortal^  invisible^  the  only 
zoise  God  ;  to  lohom  he  honor  and  glory,  forever  and  ever. 
Amen. 


(445) 


LECTURE     XIII. 
THE  VAST  PLANS   OF  JEHOVAH. 

It  is  interesting  and  instructive  to  trace  the  history  of  man's 
progress  in  the  knowledge  of  the  existence,  character,  and 
plans  of  Jehovah.  We  shall  find  that  progress  to  have  been 
marked  by  epochs,  rather  than  continuous  advancement. 
Some  new  revelation  from  heaven,  or  some  new  discovery  in 
science,  has  given  a  sudden  expansion  to  his  views  of  the 
Deity,  which  have  then  remained  in  a  good  degree  stationary 
for  a  long  period.  My  chief  object  in  this  lecture  is  to  show 
what  accessions  to  our  knowledge  of  the  divine  plans  have 
been  derived  from  science,  especially  from  geology.  But  it 
will  give  greater  distinctness  and  impressiveness  to  the  sub- 
ject to  take  a  review  of  the  principal  steps  by  which  the  human 
mind  has  reached  its  present  accurate  spiritual  and  enlarged 
views  of  the  Deity. 

We  will  first  look  at  man  in  the  rudest  condition  in  society^ 
in  which  he  has  any  idea  of  the  existence  of  beings  superior 
to  himself 

For  there  is  a  state  of  his  being  in  which  no  such  ideas 
exist  in  his  mind  ;  tribes  of  men,  and  especially  individuals, 
who  have  lived  in  a  wild  state,  away  from  all  human  inter- 
course, have  been  found  with  no  idea  of  a  superior  being  of 
any  sort.  Other  tribes  have  existed  a  little  more  elevated 
above  the  irrational  animals,  and  these  have  an  impression, 
derived  perhaps  from  their  moral  sense,  or  growing  out  of 
38 


446 


THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 


their  superstitious  fears,  that  some  power  exists  in  the  uni- 
verse greater  than  themselves.  But  having  never  entertained 
an  abstract  idea  on  any  other  subject,  and  depending  alone 
upon  their  senses  for  their  knowledge,  they  identify  God  with 
the  most  remarkable  objects  of  nature.  They  listen  to  his 
voice  in  the  wind  and  the  thunder,  in  the  ocean's  roar,  and 
the  volcano's  bellowing  ;  and  they  see  him  in  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars.  They  feel  that  he  must  be  superior  to  themselves  ; 
but  how  much  superior,  they  know  not.  They  never  think 
of  him  as  infinite,  because  the  idea  of  infinity  on  any  subject 
never  enters  their  mind.  They  conceive  of  the  earth  only  as 
a  plain  of  considerable  extent,  bounded  by  a  circle,  beyond 
which  their  thoughts  never  wander  ;  and  they  look  up  to  the 
heavens  as  a  dome,  perhaps  solid,  studded  by  luminous  bodies, 
it  may  be  a  few  feet  or  yards  in  diameter.  They  suppose 
that,  somehow  or  other,  this  superior  Being  has  the  control 
of  their  destinies;  but  the  idea  of  any  thing  like  worship  is 
too  spiritual  to  be  conceived  of,  except,  perhaps,  some  super- 
stitious rite,  performed  to  deprecate  the  divine  displeasure. 
In  short,  every  thing  in  their  notion  of  God  is  indefinite,  gross, 
and  confined  to  the  narrow  sphere  of  the  senses. 

In  the  second  place,  polytheism,  especially  among  nations 
somewhat  civilized,  is  an  advance  in  man''s  conceptions  of  the 
Supreme  Being. 

Polytheism  probably  originated  in  the  deification  of  distin- 
guished men.  Superior  minds,  who  had  been  the  leaders  or 
the  benefactors  of  mankind,  were  suddenly  torn  from  an  ad- 
miring world  by  death.  Their  bodies  were  left  behind,  but 
the  animating  principle,  the  immortal  mind,  had  vanished  in  a 
moment ;  and  it  was  a  most  natural  inquiry,  even  among  the 
most  ignorant,  whether  some  undying  principle  had  not  es- 
caped and  gone  to  a  higher  sphere  ;  for  it  would  be  difficult 


POLYTHEISM.  447 

to  conceive  how  so  much  intelHgence  and  virtue  should  be 
quenched  in  a  moment  in  eternal  night.  It  would  be  a  most 
natural  and  gratifying  conclusion  with  survivors,  that  their 
departed  leaders  and  benefactors  still  lived,  and  were  in  some 
way  concerned  in  watching  over  their  interests,  and  in  con- 
trolling their  destinies.  Conjectures  of  this  sort  would,  in  a 
few  generations,  settle  into  positive  belief.  Now,  this  would 
be  a  most  important  advance  upon  the  gross  materialism,  and 
indefinite  ideas,  which  identified  divinity  with  striking  objects 
of  nature  ;  for  if  distinguished  warriors  and  statesmen  were 
still  alive  after  their  bodies  were  laid  in  the  grave,  there  must 
have  escaped,  at  the  moment  of  death,  some  principle  too 
subtile  to  be  cognizable  by  the  senses,  or  by  chemical,  me- 
chanical, or  electrical  agencies ;  and  which,  therefore,  may 
have  been  immaterial.  At  least,  by  such  a  belief,  men  would 
be  led  insensibly  to  form  an  idea  of  the  human  soul  as  an  ex- 
tremely tenuous,  if  not  immaterial,  principle.  Especially 
would  educated  men  —  those  devoted  to  philosophical  pur- 
suits —  come  at  length  to  have  a  clear  conception  of  a  spir- 
itual being,  neither  visible  by  the  senses,  nor  dependent  upon 
the  senses  for  the  exercise  of  its  faculties.  Very  soon  would 
the  imagination  fill  the  universe  with  such  beings,  and  con- 
ceive them  as  holding  intercourse  with  one  another,  and  as 
presiding  over  all  the  objects  of  this  lower  world,  and  direct- 
ing all  its  destinies.  It  would  be  very  natural,  however,  to 
endow  these  superior  beings  with  human  characteristics,  and 
to  suppose  them  actuated  by  human  passions ;  and  thus  would 
the  celestial  society  be  represented  as  a  counterpart  of  that 
on  earth,  deformed  by  the  same  vices  and  crimes.  This 
would  lead  to  the  idea  of  a  gradation  in  rank,  power,  and 
intellect  among  the  gods,  and  to  the  conception  of  one  as 
supreme.    In  the  popular  mythology,  however,  even  Jupiter  was 


448  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

represented  as  acting  under  the  influence  of  selfishness,  pride, 
lust,  and  passion  ;  and  as  sometimes  brought  into  peril  by  his 
powerful  inferiors.  Some  of  the  philosophers  of  Greece  and 
Rome  did,  indeed,  give  descriptions  of  their  supreme  divinity 
not  unworthy  the  biblical  views  of  Jehovah.  It  may  be  that 
they  got  the  clew  to  these  just  and  elevated  conceptions  from 
the  Bible.  But  it  is  not  difficult  to  conceive  that,  in  the  man- 
ner which  I  have  described,  they  might,  by  reasoning,  with, 
perhaps,  some  hints  derived  from  revelation,  have  gradually 
attained  to  these  just  and  noble  conceptions  of  the  supreme 
divinity.  Yet  it  ought  not  to  be  forgotten  that  these  exalted 
views  of  the  philosophers  were  not  shared  at  all  by  the  com- 
mon people,  and  that  even  the  philosophers  themselves  were 
for  the  most  part  polytheists. 

The  next  step  in  man's  knowledge  of  God  was  an  im- 
measurable advance  upon  polytheism.  I  refer  to  the  i^evela- 
tion  lohich  God  made  of  himself  to  the  Jews  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. Most  of  this  revelation  did,  indeed,  precede  the 
writings  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  philosophers,  but  it  was 
confined  to  a  rude  and  almost  unknown  people,  until  the  days 
of  their  glory  had  gone  by,  and  did  not  spread  over  the  globe 
till  an  opportunity  had  been  afforded  to  prove  that  the  world 
hy  wisdom  knew  not  God.  You  may,  indeed,  find,  in  the  writ- 
ings of  a  few  philosophers,  passages  descriptive  of  the  natural 
attributes  of  the  Deity  that  will  compare  favorably  with  those 
of  the  Old  Testament.  But  his  moral  attributes,  his  benevo- 
lence, mercy,  justice,  and  holiness,  are  brought  out  in  the  Old 
Testament  in  a  far  more  distinct  and  impressive  manner  than 
in  all  other  ancient  writings.  Another  point,  and  a  vital  one, 
with  the  writers  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  which  that  inspired 
volume  goes  infinitely  beyond  the  philosophers,  is  the  unity 
of  God.     They  teach,  as  a  fundamental  principle,  and  with 


THE    OLD    TESTAMENT.  449 

all  the  earnestness  which  inspiration  can  bestow,  not  only  that 
Jehovah  is  supreme,  but  that  he  is  God  alone,  and  that  no 
other  gods  exist.  You  may,  indeed,  find  statements  to  this 
effect  in  the  works  of  the  philosophers  ;  but  the  conduct  of 
Socrates,  the  most  enhghtened  of  them  all,  —  in  his  dying 
moments,  —  in  directing  a  sacrifice  to  be  made  to -^sculapius, 
is  a  good  practical  commentary  upon  their  doctrine  of  the 
divine  unity.  It  shows  that,  with  some  correct  notions  of  the 
supreme  divinity,  they  believed  in  the  existence  of  inferior 
deities  ;  or,  at  least,  they  did  not  regard  the  popular  error  on 
this  subject  of  importance  enough  to  require  them  boldly  to 
testify  against  it.  But  such  testimony  constitutes  the  burden 
of  the  Old  Testament,  as  if  all  other  religious  truths  were  of 
little  importance  without  it.  And  so  far  as  these  inspired 
books  succeeded  in  fixing  this  doctrine  in  the  minds  of  the 
Jews,  they  performed  an  immense  service  for  religion.  They 
swept  at  once  from  the  universe  the  thirty  thousand  divinities 
of  Greece  and  Rome,  and  placed  Jehovah  only  on  the  throne. 
But,  for  some  reason  or  other,  polytheism  has  always  been  a 
doctrine  most  congenial  to  human  nature  ;  especially  to  the 
uncultivated  mind  ;  and  the  probability  is,  that  the  great  mass 
of  the  Jews,  while  they  believed  in  the  supremacy  of  Jehovah, 
still  supposed  that  the  gods  of  the  heathen  had  a  real  exist- 
ence. This  certainly  was  the  case  before  the  Babylonish 
exile,  though  doubtless  the  patriarchs  had  more  correct  no- 
tions. This  fact  explains  the  otherwise  unaccountable  dispo- 
sition of  the  Jews  to  fall  away  to  idolatry,  in  spite  of  all  which 
Jehovah  did  to  preserve  among  them  his  true  worship. 

On  the  subject,  also,  of  the  divine  spirituality,  we  have  evi- 
dence that  the  notions  of  the  great  mass  of  the  Jewish  nation 
were  low  and  confused.     They  distinguished,  it  is  true,  very 
clearly  between  the  body  and  the  soul.     But  they  probably 
38* 


450  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

conceived  of  the  latter  as  a  very  subtile,  invisible,  corporeal 
essence,  and  not  that  pure,  immaterial  substance  which  is 
understood  by  that  term  in  metaphysics.  The  abstract  ideas 
attached  to  the  soul  in  the  nineteenth  century  probably  never 
entered  their  minds  ;  and  though  in  strict  language  they  might 
be  called  materialists,  they  were  by  no  means  such  material- 
ists as  modern  times  have  produced,  who  understandingly 
deny  the  existence  of  the  soul,  and  regard  it  as  a  function  of 
the  brain.  The  Jews  thought  of  God  as  the  most  subtile  es- 
sence of  which  they  could  form  any  idea ;  but  whether  he 
were  material,  or  immaterial,  probably  they  never  inquired. 
And  it  cannot  escape  the  notice  of  a  reader  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment how  frequently  God  is  represented  by  figures  derived 
from  material  objects.  This  was  in  accommodation  to  the 
rude  and  uncultivated  state  of  most  minds  in  those  early  days. 
Purely  abstract  truths  would  have  conveyed  no  ideas  to  minds 
which  had  never  been  accustomed  to  abstractions.  Hence  it 
is,  that  we  meet  in  the  Bible  with  so  many  descriptions  of  the 
Deity,  which  theologians  and  philosophers  denominate  an- 
thropopathic  and  anthropomorphic.  It  was  in  accommodation 
to  the  uncultivated  state  of  common  minds,  which  could  form 
no  conceptions  of  God  that  were  not  founded  on  some  prop- 
erty belonging  to  man.  The  language  of  the  sacred  writers 
does,  indeed,  when  correctly  interpreted,  convey  the  idea  of 
the  most  perfectly  simple,  spiritual,  and  immaterial  substance 
as  constituting  the  divine  essence  ;  and  minds  accustomed  to 
abstract  ideas  find  no  difficulty  in  enucleating  the  spiritual 
meaning  of  Scripture.  But  had  the  divine  Being  been  de- 
scribed by  abstract  terms,  the  great  mass  of  men,  even  at  the 
present  day,  would  receive  no  impressive  conception  of  the 
Godhead.  God,  therefore,  in  the  Old  Testament,  revealed 
as  much  concerning  himself  and   his  plans,  as  men  would 


CHRISTIANITY.  451 

understand.  But  other  revelations  and  developments  would 
follow,  when  the  human  mind  should  be  prepared  to  receive 
and  appreciate  them. 

The  7'evelations  of  Christianity  have  brought  to  light  so 
much  respecting  the  moral  character  and  moral  government 
of  Jehovah^  as  to  leave  little  further  to  he  desired  or  expected 
in  this  ivorld. 

The  natural  attributes  of  the  Deity  have  a  more  spiritual 
and  less  anthropopathic  aspect  in  the  New  Testament  than  in 
the  Old.  We  are  told  in  the  former  distinctly,  that  God  is  a 
spirit,  and  those  who  ivorship  him  must  ivorship  him  in  spirit 
and  in  truth.  But  God's  moral  character,  as  developed  in  the 
New  Testament,  in  the  plan  of  redemption  and  salvation,  pre- 
sents us  with  a  perfection  and  a  glory  unknown  in  all  previous 
revelations.  We  have,  it  is  true,  in  the  Old  Testament  inti- 
mations and  predictions  of  the  plan,  which  is  fully  developed 
and  exemplified  in  the  new  dispensation.  But  these  were 
only  shadows  of  Jesus  Christ  and  him  crucified.  When  he 
appeared,  and  by  his  sufferings,  as  a  substitute  for  man,  recon- 
ciled divine  justice  and  mercy,  and  made  a  clear  exposition 
of  the  moral  law,  and  a  disclosure  of  a  future  state  of  retribu- 
tions, a  flood  of  light  was  thrown  upon  God's  moral  character. 
Every  cloud  that  had  rested  upon  it  was  cleared  away,  and 
immaculate  holiness  covered  it  with  unapproachable  splendor. 
In  short,  the  human  mind  is  incapable  of  forming  a  more  cor- 
rect estimate  of  moral  excellence  than  is  exhibited  in  the 
scriptural  plan  of  salvation.  The  more  it  is  meditated  upon, 
and  the  more  we  experience  its  practical  influence,  the  higher 
will  be  our  conceptions  of  the  moral  glory  of  the  divine 
character ;  nor  have  we  reason  to  suppose  that  any  further 
revelations  would  increase  our  apprehensions  of  it.  For  be- 
nevolence, mercy,  justice,  and  grace  are  here  exhibited  in 


452  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

unlimited,  that  is,  in  infinite,  glory  and  perfection,  and  there- 
fore can  never  be  exceeded. 

But  though  the  exhibitions  of  the  divine  character  and  plans 
contained  in  the  Bible  are  thus  perfect  and  excellent,  they  are 
not  the  only  exhibitions  which  the  universe  contains,  and 
which  man  is  capable  of  understanding.  Lo,  these  are  a  part 
of  his  ways.  The  Bible  has  left  the  wonders  of  the  natural 
world  where  it  found  them,  to  be  examined  and  developed  by 
philosophy.  Some  have  thought  that  it  has  anticipated  a  few 
scientific  discoveries ;  but  if  it  had  done  this  in  one  instance, 
it  must  have  carried  the  same  plan  through  the  whole  circle 
of  science  ;  else  how  could  readers  determine  when  the  sacred 
writers  were  describing  phenomena  according  to  appearances 
and  general  belief,  and  when  according  to  real  scientific  truth  ? 
But  the  fact  is,  scientific  discoveries  are  left  to  man's  ingenu- 
ity ;  and  as  they  are  made  from  time  to  time,  they  bring  out 
new  and  splendid  illustrations  of  the  character  and  plans  of 
Jehovah.  Let  us  now  recur  to  some  of  these  discoveries,  that 
have  opened  the  widest  vistas  into  the  arcana  of  nature. 

The  discoveries  in  modern  astronomy  constitute  the  fifth 
step  in  man'^s  knoioledge  of  God. 

In  order  to  see  how  much  man's  conceptions  of  the  universe 
have  been  enlarged  by  these  discoveries,  compare  the  opinions 
which  prevailed  before  the  introduction  of  the  Copernican 
system  with  what  is  now  certain  knowledge,  founded  upon 
physico-mathematics,  respecting  the  extent  of  the  universe. 
Then  this  earth  was  thought  to  be  the  centre  and  the  princi- 
pal body  of  the  creation,  immovably  fixed,  with  the  heavenly 
bodies,  generally  thought'to  be  of  diminutive  size,  revolving 
around  it  every  twenty-four  hours.  The  earth,  too,  except  in 
the  opinion  of  a  few  sagacious  philosophers,  was  not  imagined 
to  be  that  vast  globe  which  we  now  understand  it  to  be,  but  a 


MODEEN    ASTRONOMY.  453 

flat  surface,  perhaps  a  few  hundred  or  thousand  miles  in  ex- 
tent, bounded  by  a  circle,  and  resting  on  an  imaginaiy  foun- 
dation. The  heavenly  bodies  were  looked  upon  as  little  more 
than  shining  points,  or  at  most  a  few  yards,  or  by  the  most 
daring  fancies  a  few  miles,  in  extent.  What  a  change  have 
the  telescope,  the  quadrant,  and  the  transit  instrument,  aided 
by  profound  mathematics,  and  the  talismanic  power  of  the 
Newtonian  theory  of  gravitation,  produced  !  Every  school- 
boy now  knows  that  this  globe,  enormous  though  it  be  com- 
pared with  what  the  eye  can  take  in  from  the  loftiest  emi- 
nence, is  but  a  mere  speck  in  creation,  and,  with  the 
exception  of  the  moon,  appearing  from  other  worlds  only  as 
one  of  the  smallest  stars  in  their  heavens ;  so  small  that  its 
extinction  would  not  be  noticed.  To  the  ignorant  mind,  dis- 
tances and  magnitudes  exceeding  a  hundred  miles  are  con- 
ceived of  only  with  great  difficulty.  But  the  astronomer, 
when  he  conceives  of  magnitudes,  must  make  a  thousand 
miles  his  shortest  unit,  and  a  million  of  miles  when  he  con- 
ceives of  distances  in  the  solar  system.  And  when  he 
attempts  to  go  beyond  the  sun  and  the  planets,  the  shortest 
division  on  his  measuring  line  must  be  the  diameter  of  the 
earth's  orbit ;  and  even  then  he  will  be  borne  onward  so  far, 
not  on  the  wings  of  imagination,  but  of  mathematics,  that  this 
enormous  distance  has  vanished  to  a  point.  Even  then  he 
has  only  reached  the  nearest  fixed  star,  and,  of  course,  has 
only  just  entered  upon  the  outer  limit  of  creation.  He  must 
prepare  himself  for  a  still  loftier  flight.  He  must  give  up  the 
diameter  of  the  earth's  orbit  as  the  unit  of  his  measurements, 
because  too  short,  and  take  as  his  standard  the  passage  of 
light,  at  the  rate  of  two  hundred  thousand  miles  per  second. 
With  that  speed  can  he  go  on,  until  his  mind  has  reckoned  up 
six  thousand  years  of  seconds,  and  he  will  reach  fixed  stars 


454  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

whose  light  has  not  yet  arrived  at  the  earth,  because  it  did 
not  commence  its  journey  till  the  time  of  man's  creation. 

But  it  is  not  merely  in  respect  to  distance  and  magnitude 
that  astronomy  has  enlarged  our  knowledge  of  the  universe. 
Numerically  it  has  opened  a  field  equally  wide.  Think  of 
two  thousand  worlds  rolling  nightly  around  us,  visible  to  the 
naked  eye.  Take  the  telescope,  and  see  those  two  thousand 
multiply  to  fifty  or  one  hundred  millions,  and  then  recollect 
how  very  improbable  it  is  that  the  keenest  optics  of  earth  can 
reach  more  than  an  infinitesimal  part  of  creation.  Surely 
the  mind  is  as  much  confounded  and  lost,  when  it  attempts  to 
conceive  of  the  number  of  the  worlds  in  the  universe,  as 
when  it  contemplates  their  distances  and  magnitudes.  In 
respect  to  number  and  distance,  at  least,  we  find  no  resting- 
place  but  in  infinity. 

Now,  when  we  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  Author  of  such  a 
universe,  our  conceptions  of  his  power,  wisdom,  and  benevo- 
lence cannot  but  enlarge  in  the  same  ratio  as  our  views  of  his 
works.  They  must,  therefore,  experience  a  prodigious  ex- 
pansion. And,  indeed,  the  merest  child  in  a  Christian  land, 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  has  a  far  wider  and  nobler  concep- 
tion of  the  perfections  of  Jehovah  than  the  wisest  philosopher 
who  lived  before  astronomy  had  gone  forth  on  her  circum- 
navigation of  the  universe.  From  the  fact,  also,  which  astron- 
omy discloses,  that  worlds  are  in  widely  different  chemical 
and  geological  conditions,  some  gaseous  and  transparent, 
some  solid  and  opaque,  and  some  liquid  and  incandescent, 
the  mind  can  hardly  avoid  the  inference  that  they  are  fulfilling 
the  vast  and  varied  plans  of  Jehovah. 

The  sixth  step  in  man's  knoioledge  of  Jehovah  has  been 
made  by  the  microscope. 

To  give  any  correct  idea  of  the  boundless  field  which  that 


THE    MICROSCOPE.  455 

instrument  has  opened  into  the  infinitesimal  parts  of  creation, 
it  would  be  necessary  to  go  into  details  too  extended  for  the 
present  occasion.  Perhaps  the  animalcula  or  infusoria  fur- 
nish the  best  example.  "  In  the  clearest  waters,"  says  an 
able  writer,  "  and  also  in  the  strongly-troubled  acid  and  salt 
fluids  of  the  various  zones  of  the  earth  ;  in  springs,  rivers, 
lakes,  and  seas ;  in  the  internal  moisture  of  living  plants  and 
animal  bodies ;  and  probably,  at  times,  carried  about  in  the 
vapor  and  dust  of  the  whole  atmosphere  of  the  earth,  exists  a 
world,  by  the  common  senses  of  mankind  unperceived,  of 
very  minute  living  beings,  which  have  been  called,  for  the 
last  seventy  years,  infusoria.  In  the  ordinary  pursuits  of 
life,  this  mysterious  and  infinite  kingdom  of  living  creatures 
is  passed  by  without  our  knowledge  of,  or  interest  in,  its 
wonders.  But  to  the  quiet  observer  how  astonishing  do  these 
become,  when  he  brings  to  his  aid  those  optical  powers  by 
which  his  faculty  of  vision  is  so  much  strengthened  !  In 
every  drop  of  dirty,  stagnant  water,  we  are  generally,  if  not 
always,  able  to  perceive,  by  means  of  the  microscope,  moving 
bodies,  of  from  one  eleven  hundred  and  fiftieth  to  one  twen- 
ty-five thousandth  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  and  which  often  lie 
packed  so  closely  together  that  the  space  between  each  indi- 
vidual scarcely  equals  that  of  their  diameter."  —  Prichard, 
History  of  Infusoria.,  p.  2,  1841. 

Again  says  he,  "  It  is  hardly  conceivable  that,  within  the 
narrow  space,  [of  a  grain  of  mustard-soed,]  eight  millions  of 
living,  active  creatures  can  exist,  all  richly  endowed  with  the 
organs  and  faculties  of  animal  life.  Such,  however,  is  the 
astonishing  fact."  —  lb.  p.  3. 

In  short,  whoever  will  thoroughly  study  this  subject  will  be 
satisfied  that  Dr.  Ehrenberg  does  not  exceed  the  truth  when 
he  asserts,  as  the   result  of  his  inquiries,   that   "experience 


456  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

shows  an  unfathomableness  of  organic  creations,  when  atten- 
tion is  directed  to  the  smallest  space,  as  it  does  of  stars, 
when  revealing  the  most  immense."  —  Pricliard,  p.  8. 

He  who  follows  out  the  revelations  of  the  telescope,  as  it 
penetrates  deeper  and  deeper  into  space,  will  feel,  when  he 
has  seen  the  remotest  object  which  its  power  discloses,  that 
there  must  certainly  be  a  vast  unknown  region  beyond,  infi- 
nitely exceeding  that  one  over  which  he  has  passed.  Just  so 
is  it  with  the  microscope.  It  penetrates  to  an  astonishing 
distance  into  the  infinitesimal  forms  of  organic  and  inor- 
ganic matter ;  but  every  improvement  in  the  instrument 
reaches  a  new  and  equally  interesting  field  ;  and  the  con- 
clusion forces  itself  upon  the  mind  that  there  are  regions 
beyond  of  indefinite  extent,  teeming  with  countless  millions 
even  of  organic  beings,  of  a  size  much  more  diminutive  than 
those  yet  discovered,  and  with  inorganic  forms  too  minute 
for  the  imagination  to  conceive.  Indeed,  we  can  no  more  set 
limits  to  creation  in  the  direction  pointed  out  by  the  micro- 
scope than  in  that  laid  open  by  the  telescope.  We  hence 
get  a  most  impressive  conception  of  divine  wisdom  and  benev- 
olence, which  could  thus  bestow  exquisite  organization  and 
life  upon  atoms  minute  beyond  the  power  of  the  imagination 
to  conceive.  Indeed,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  lesson  is  even 
more  striking  than  the  contemplation  of  vast  worlds  in  rapid 
and  harmonious  motion ;  because  the  latter  seem  to  demand 
only  infinite  power,  but  the  former  requires  infinite  wisdom 
to  direct  infinite  power. 

In  the  seventh  and  last  place,  geology  has  given  great  en- 
largement to  our  knowledge  of  the  divine  plans  and  operations 
in  the  universe,  and  in  the  following  particulars  :  — 

1.  It  expands  our  ideas  of  the  time  in  which  the  material 
universe  has  been  in  existence  as  much  as  astronomy  does  in 
regard  to  its  extent. 


GEOLOGY.  457 

To  those  not  familiar  with  the  details  of  geology,  this  will 
probably  seem  a  startling  and  extravagant  assertion.  There 
has  been,  and  still  is,  an  extreme  sensitiveness  in  the  minds 
of  intelligent  men  on  this  subject.  And  I  highly  respect  the 
ground  from  which  their  apprehensions  spring,  viz.,  a  fear  that 
to  admit  the  great  antiquity  of  the  globe  would  bring  discredit 
upon  revelation.  And  yet  I  believe  the  most  candid  and  able 
theologians  of  the  present  day  do  not  fear  that  to  admit  the 
existence  of  the  matter  of  the  world  previous  to  the  six  days' 
work  of  creation,  is  inconsistent  with  the  Mosaic  statement. 
But  if  we  allow  any  period  between  its  creation  and  the  six 
demiurgic  days,  it  is  no  more  derogatory  to  Scripture  to  make 
that  period  ten  millions  of  years  than  ten  years.  For  if  the 
sacred  writer  would  pass  over  ten  years  in  silence,  he  could, 
with  the  same  propriety,  pass  over  ten  millions.  Now,  the 
longer  I  study  geology,  the  nearer  do  my  ideas  approximate 
to  the  latter  number  as  a  measure  of  the  earth's  duration. 
Let  us  contemplate  a  few  facts.  We  are  able  to  trace  the 
geological  changes  that  have  taken  place  on  the  earth  since 
man's  existence  upon  it  with  a  good  deal  of  accuracy.  For 
since  his  remains  are  found  only  in  alluvium,  we  must  regard 
all  changes  that  took  place  previous  to  the  deposition  of  that 
formation  to  have  been  of  an  earlier  date  than  his  creation. 
Now,  what  are  the  changes  which  the  last  six  thousand  years 
have  witnessed  ?  In  some  places,  the  agency  of  rivers  and 
other  causes  have  made  an  accumulation  of  alluvial  matter  to 
the  depth  of  not  more  than  one  or  two  hundred  feet,  although 
in  particular  places  it  is  several  hundred  feet.  These  deposits 
have  been  pushed  forward  at  the  mouths  of  some  large  rivers, 
so  as  to  cover  hundreds,  and  even  thousands,  of  square  miles. 
Oceanic  currents  have  also  made  deposits  in  the  bottom  of 
wide  seas  of  considerable  extent ;  and  in  some  limited  spots 
39 


458  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

these  deposits  have  been  consolidated  into  rock.  The  action 
of  frost  and  gravity,  also,  has  crumbled  from  precipitous 
ledges  angular  fragments  enough  to  form  a  slope  of  detritus 
sometimes  a  hundred  feet  high.  The  polyparia,  or  coral 
builders,  have  advanced  their  work  only  a  few  feet  in  thick- 
ness during  this  period,  and  soils  have  accumulated  in  some 
places  about  as  much.  Volcanic  action  has  occasionally 
thrown  up  a  new  island  from  the  ocean's  bed  ;  but  only  a  few 
of  them  have  been  permanent.  Some  tracts  of  country,  in 
no  case  more  than  a  few  hundred  miles  in  extent,  have,  by 
the  same  agency,  been  raised  a  few  feet,  or  sunk  down  the 
same  amount.  But  after  all,  the  earth's  surface  remains  es- 
sentially the  same  as  when  man  was  placed  upon  it. 

Now,  compare  these  slight  changes  with  those  which  have 
preceded  it,  through  the  operation  of  the  same  agencies, 
since  the  first  existence  of  animals  upon  the  globe.  I  will 
not  contend,  with  some  distinguished  geologists,  that  these 
same  changes  have  always  operated  with  the  same  intensity 
as  at  present.  But  there  are  several  circumstances  which 
show  that  the  depositions  from  water  could  not  have  been 
essentially  different  in  ancient  and  modern  times.  Now,  just 
compare  six  or  eight  miles  in  thickness  of  the  fossiliferous 
deposits  of  the  previous  periods  with  the  two  hundred  feet  of 
alluvium  accumulated  during  the  historic  period  ;  and,  after 
you  have  made  all  reasonable  allowance  for  the  greater  inten- 
sity of  action  in  former  times,  you  will  still  find  yourselves 
confounded  by  the  incalculable  time  requisite  to  pile  up  such 
an  immense  thickness  of  materials,  and  then  to  harden  most 
of  them  into  stone  ;  especially  when  you  call  to  mind  the  nu- 
merous changes  of  organic  life,  and  the  vast  amount  of 
animal  remains  which  they  exhibit.  A  superficial  observer 
might  lump  such  a  work,  and  crowd  it  into  a  few  thousand 


GEOLOGICAL    PERIODS.  459 

years.  But  the  more  its  details  are  studied,  the  longer  does 
the  period  appear  that  is  requisite  for  its  production.  Each 
successive  investigation  discovers  new  evidence  of  changes 
in  composition,  or  organic  contents,  or  of  vertical  movements 
effected  hy  extremely  slow  agencies,  so  as  to  make  the  whole 
work  immeasurably  long. 

But  when  we  have  gone  back  to  the  commencement  of 
animal  existence  on  the  globe,  we  have  taken  but  one  step  in 
our  review  of  its  early  history.  The  next  backward  step 
embraces  that  wide  period  during  which  the  stratified,  non- 
fossiliferous  rocks  —  far  thicker  than  the  fossiliferous  —  were 
deposited  ;  probably  by  the  agency  of  fire  and  water.  Or  if 
we  adopt  the  metamorphic  theory  of  Mr.  Lyell,  we  shall  be 
still  more  deeply  impressed  by  the  length  of  that  period, 
during  which  these  rocks  were  in  a  course  of  deposition,  con- 
solidation, and  metamorphosis.  For  he  supposes  them  origi- 
nally deposited  from  water,  just  as  mud,  sand,  and  gravel 
now  are  accumulating  in  the  ocean's  bed,  and  to  have  envel- 
oped organic  beings,  as  similar  materials  now  do.  Next  the 
whole  were  consolidated,  so  as  to  form  the  exact  prototype  of 
the  existing  fossiliferous  rocks  ;  and  finally  it  underwent  almost 
complete  fusion,  by  the  slow  propagation  of  internal  heat 
upwards,  until  all  the  organic  contents  were  obliterated,  and 
a  crystalline  structure  was  substituted.  Nay,  according  to 
this  theory,  other  systems  of  rocks,  of  an  analogous  charac- 
ter, may  have  preceded  the  present  primary  stratified  ones, 
and  have  been  at  length  entirely  melted  into  the  unstratified ; 
so  that  we  cannot  say  when  organic  life  first  began  on  the 
globe.  But  I  will  not  press  this  theory,  because  most  of  the 
ablest  geologists  reject  it,  at  least  in  its  full  extent.  And  we 
have  a  period  long  enough  to  confound  the  imagination,  if  we 
take  the  common  view,  which  supposes  the  non- fossiliferous 


460  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

rocks  to  have  been  deposited  from  water,  at  a  temperature  too 
high  to  admit  the  existence  of  organic  beings. 

We  have  now  gone  back  to  that  point  in  the  earth's  history 
when  a  crust  had  begun  to  form  over  the  shoreless  ocean  of 
melted  matter,  of  which  we  have  reason  to  suppose  it  was 
then  composed.  Shall  we  attempt  to  trace  back  that  history 
any  farther  ?  The  light  does,  indeed,  grow  dim,  and  the 
clew  more  and  more  uncertain,  the  farther  we  recede  along 
the  track  of  the  earth's  existence.  Still  there  are  some  scat- 
tered rays  that  seem  to  recall  to  us  a  condition  of  the  earth 
still  earlier  than  that  in  which  it  constituted  a  molten  globe. 
It  may  have  been  dissipated  into  vapor,  like  a  comet,  or  a 
nebula ;  and  subsequently,  by  the  slow  radiation  of  its  heat, 
have  been  condensed  into  an  opaque,  though  a  melted,  incan- 
descent mass.  Several  analogies  certainly  throw  an  air  of 
plausibility  over  this  hypothesis.  And  if  such  was,  indeed, 
the  earliest  condition  of  the  earth,  the  time  requisite  to  con- 
dense it  into  melted  matter  must  have  been  longer  than  any 
other  period  of  its  history. 

Who,  now,  at  all  familiar  with  the  dynamics  of  geological 
agencies,  shall  undertake  to  give  an  arithmetical  expression 
to  the  periods  that  make  up  the  world's  entire  history  ?  Not 
only  does  the  reasoning  faculty  fail  to  grasp  the  entire  sum, 
but  even  imagination,  as  she  flies  backwards  through  period 
after  period,  tires  in  the  effort,  and  brings  back  not  even  a 
conjectural  result.  The  same  feeling  does,  in  fact,  come  over 
the  mind,  which  she  experiences  when  astronomy  has  hurried 
her  from  world  to  world,  from  sun  to  sun,  from  system  to  sys- 
tem, from  nebula  to  nebula,  and  yet  she  seems  no  nearer  to  the 
limits  of  creation  than  when  she  started.  We  know  certainly 
that  there  are  limits  ;  because  matter  cannot  be  infinite.  But 
we  cannot  conjecture  where  they  are  fixed.     We  know,  also 


EXTENT    OF    ORGANIC    LIFE.  461 

that  there  was  a  time  when  this  world  did  not  exist,  an  epoch 
when  its  entire  mass  was  spoken  into  existence  by  the  fiat  of 
Jehovah  ;  because  the  Bible  expressly  declares  it.  But  that 
epoch  is  unrevealed.  If  there  is  any  truth  in  geology,  it  was 
certainly  more  than  six  thousand  years  ago.  Nay,  that  sci- 
ence carries  us  as  far  back  into  the  arcana  of  time  as  astron- 
omy does  into  the  arcana  of  space.  Neither  the  distance  in 
the  one  case,  nor  the  duration  in  the  other,  can  be  estimated. 
But  there  is  a  sublime  inspiration  in  the  effort  to  grasp  the 
subject ;  and  I  see  not  why  there  is  not  as  much  grandeur 
and  high  gratification  in  the  idea  of  vast  duration  as  of  vast 
expansion.  And  I  see  not  why  we  do  not  gain  as  much  en- 
largement of  our  conceptions  of  the  plans  of  Jehovah  respect- 
ing the  universe  in  the  one  case  as  in  the  other.  We  cannot 
but  infer,  from  the  pre-Adamic  state  of  our  world,  that  it 
must  have  subserved  other  purposes  than  to  sustain  its  present 
inhabitants. 

2.  In  the  second  place,  geology  gives  us  impressive  examples 
of  the  extent  of  organic  life  on  the  globe  since  its  creation. 

I  shall  not  contend,  with  some  geologists,  that  even  the  pri- 
mary crystalline  rocks  may  once  have  been  filled  with  organic 
remains,  which  have  been  obliterated  by  heat ;  and  that,  in 
this  way,  there  may  have  been  a  number  of  creations  of 
organized  beings  on  the  globe,  of  which  no  trace  now  re- 
mains. I  take  as  the  basis  of  my  argument  only  the  relics 
of  animals  and  plants  actually  found  in  the  rocks.  And  when 
one  sees  mountain  masses,  often  of  small  shells,  and  spread 
over  wide  areas,  he  is  amazed  to  learn  how  prolific  nature 
has  been.  What  a  countless  number  of  vegetables,  too,  must 
have  been  required  to  produce  beds  of  coal  from  one  to  fifty 
feet  thick,  and  extending  over  thousands  of  square  miles,  and 
alternating  several  times  with  sandstone  in  the  same  basin  ! 

l^9* 


462  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

There  is  reason  to  believe,  too,  that  the  number  of  animals 
preserved  in  the  strata  bears  only  a  small  proportion  to  those 
which  have  been  utterly  destroyed  and  decomposed  into  their 
original  elements.  For  example,  in  the  sandstone  along 
Connecticut  River,  the  tracks  of  more  than  forty  species  of 
bipeds  and  quadrupeds  have  been  found  most  distinctly 
marked.  Some  of  these  bipeds  must  have  been  of  colossal 
size  —  as  much  as  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  in  height.  And  yet 
scarcely  any  other  vestige  of  their  existence  has  been  discov- 
ered. They  were  the  giant  rulers  of  that  valley  for  centu- 
ries ;  but  they  have  all  vanished.  How  numerous,  then,  may 
have  been  the  softer  animals  of  the  ancient  world,  which 
have  not  left  even  a  footmark  to  certify  their  existence  to 
coming  generations ! 

But  the  facts  recently  brought  to  light  respecting  infusoria 
and  polythalamia  fill  us  with  the  greatest  admiration  of  the 
extent  of  organic  life  upon  the  globe.  We  have  already  seen 
that  some  of  these  animals  are  so  minute  that  eight  millions 
of  them  are  found  in  a  space  not  larger  than  a  mustard-seed  ; 
and  yet  they  had  skeletons  of  silex,  lime,  and  iron  ;  and,  of 
course,  these  skeletons  have  been  preserved  ;  and,  though  of 
the  smallest  size,  it  requires  not  less  than  forty-one  billions  to 
make  a  single  cubic  inch  ;  yet  deposits  of  them,  or  of  species 
not  much  larger,  occur,  several  feet  in  thickness,  and  extend- 
ing over  several  square  miles.  Nay,  the  chalk  of  Northern 
Europe,  and  also  of  Western  Asia,  where  it  constitutes  most 
of  Mount  Lebanon,  and  extends  southerly  through  Palestine 
into  Arabia  and  Egypt,  and  also  deposits  in  North  and  South 
America,  thousands  of  miles  in  extent,  —  this  rock,  I  say,  is 
nearly  half  composed  of  microscopic  shells.  The  oolite, 
also,  contains  them  ;  and,  indeed,  infusorial  remains  occur  in 
flint  and   opal  ;    and,   as    instruments    and    observations  are 


THE    PRESENT    SYSTEM    BUT    ONE    LINK    OF    A    SERIES.      463 

perfected,  more  and  more  of  the  solid  rocks  are  found  to 
have  once  constituted  the  framework  of  animals.  It  is  hardly 
to  be  doubted  that  such  was  the  fact  with  nearly  all  the  lime- 
stone on  the  globe,  occupying  at  least  a  seventh  part  of  its 
surface.  In  fact,  we  seem  fast  coming  to  regard  as  sober 
truth  the  ancient  adage,  apparently  so  extravagant  —  Omnis 
calx  e  vermibus  ;  omne  ferrum  e  vermibus  ;  ojnnis  silex  e  ver- 
mibus.  Indeed,  it  is  the  opinion  of  so  competent  a  geologist 
as  Dr.  Mantell  that  "  probably  there  is  not  an  atom  of  the  solid 
materials  of  the  globe  which  has  not  passed  through  the  com- 
plex and  wonderful  laboratory  of  life."  —  Wond.  of  Geology, 
vol.  ii.  p.  670.  —  What  a  vast  field  here  opens  before  us  to 
contemplate  the  far-reaching  plans,  the  benevolence,  and  the 
wisdom  of  the  Deity  ! 

In  the  third  place,  geology  shows  us  that  the  present  sys- 
tem of  organic  life  on  the  globe  is  but  one  link  of  a  series, 
extending  very  far  backward  and  infinitely  forward. 

Revelation  describes  only  the  existing  species,  leaving  to 
science  the  task  and  the  privilege  to  lift  up  the  veil  that  hangs 
over  the  past,  and  to  disclose  other  economies  that  have  passed 
away.  How  many  of  them  have  existed  we  do  not  certainly 
know.  If,  with  Agassiz,  we  characterize  them  by  their  pre- 
dominant tribes,  we  might  say  that  all  the  period  previous  to 
the  new  red  sandstone  constituted  the  reign  of  fishes  ;  from 
thence  to  the  chalk,  the  reign  of  reptiles  ;  from  thence  to  the 
drift,  the  reign  of  mammifera.  But  this  is  a  less  philosoph- 
ical view  than  that  of  Deshayes,  who  finds  five  great  groups 
of  animals,  specifically  independent  of  one  another.  But 
who  will  attempt  to  fix  the  chronological  limits  of  these  sys- 
tems ?  We  can  only  say  that  they  must  have  been  exceed- 
ingly long,  if  we  can  place  any  dependence  upon  existing 
analogies  ;  and  we  know  that  each  one  of  them  is  made  up  of 


464  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

numerous  subdivisions,  or  minor  groups,  widely,  though  not 
entirely,  different  in  composition  and  organic  contents.  We 
know  that  the  more  we  examine  the  whole  series,  the  deeper 
does  our  conviction  become  that  its  commencement  runs  back 
far,  very  far,  into  the  depths  of  past  eternity.  We  know, 
also,  from  the  joint  testimony  of  Scripture  and  geology,  that 
another  change  is  to  pass  over  the  world,  to  prepare  it  for  in- 
habitants far  more  elevated  than  those  now  living  upon  it, 
and  in  possession  of  perfect  holiness  and  perfect  happiness. 
And  it  may  be  it  will  experience  far  greater  changes,  adapt- 
ing it  for  higher  and  higher  grades  of  being,  through  periods 
of  duration  to  which  we  can  assign  no  limits.  O,  what  a  vast 
chain  of  being  is  here  spread  out  before  the  imagination, 
reaching  immeasurably  far  into  the  depths  of  the  eternity 
which  is  past,  and  into  the  eternity  which  is  to  come  !  What 
a  field  for  the  display  of  God's  infinite  perfections  !  What 
a  vista  does  it  open  to  us  into  the  vast  plans  and  purposes  of 
Jehovah  ! 

In  the  fourth  place,  geology  reveals  to  us  a  curious  series 
of  improvements  in  the  condition  of  worlds,  as  they  pass 
through  successive  changes. 

If  the  earth  began  its  existence  in  the  state  of  vapor,  we 
can  hardly  imagine  it  in  that  state  capable  of  sustaining  any 
organic  natures,  formed  upon  the  general  type  of  those  now 
existing.  Nor,  when  the  vapor  was  condensed  into  a  molten 
globe,  could  such  natures  inhabit  it,  till  a  crust  had  formed 
over  its  surface,  and  the  heat  had  been  so  reduced  as  not  to 
decompose  animals  and  plants.  Even  then,  the  natures 
placed  upon  it  must  have  been  of  a  peculiar  and  low  type  of 
organization,  capable  of  enduring  the  high  temperature  and 
catastrophes  which  would  destroy  those  of  more  delicate  and 
complicated  organization.     But  gradually  did  the  temperature 


A    SERIES    OF    IMPROVEMENTS.  465 

diminish,  while  aqueous  and  atmospheric  agencies  were  accu- 
mulating a  deeper  and  a  richer  soil,  so  that  the  next  change 
of  inhabitants  would  allow  natures  of  a  higher  organization 
and  a  denser  population  to  occupy  the  surface.  Their  re- 
mains, buried  in  the  earth,  would  increase  the  quantity  of  car- 
bonate of  lime  in  a  form  available  for  the  use  of  animals  and 
plants  ;  that  is,  lime  would  gradually  be  eliminated,  by  plants 
and  animals,  from  its  more  concealed  combinations  in  the 
crystalline  rocks,  and  be  converted  into  carbonates,  sulphates, 
and  humates.  A  larger  amount  of  organic  matter  would  also 
be  converted  into  humus.  Now,  limestone  soils  are  of  all 
others  most  favorable  to  vegetation,  when  there  is  a  sufficient 
supply  of  organic  matter.  Hence  every  successive  change 
becomes  more  and  more  adapted  for  animals  and  plants,  be- 
cause the  lime  and  the  organic  matter  in  a  state  favorable  for 
their  support  have  been  increasing ;  and  the  present  state  of 
the  surface  is  more  favorable  than  any  conditions  which  have 
preceded  it,  and  accordingly  it  is  peopled  with  more  perfect 
and  more  numerous  organic  natures.  Can  we  doubt  but  that, 
if  another  change  passes  over  the  earth,  this  same  great  prin- 
ciple of  progressive  improvement  will  be  manifested  in  the 
renovated  v;orld  ?  I  am  not  prepared  to  maintain,  however, 
that  this  future  change  will  be,  like  the  past  ones,  an  improve- 
ment as  to  soil  and  climate  ;  for  the  change,  as  Scripture 
teaches,  will  be  accomplished  by  fire  ;  and  so  different  will  be 
the  state  of  existence  in  the  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness,  that  we  cannot  say  how  far  the  present  system 
of  nature  will  be  introduced.  But  that  it  will  be  an  improved 
condition,  we  can  hardly  doubt,  if  we  infer  any  thing  from  the 
splendid  figures  by  which  it  is  described  in  the  Bible,  and 
from  the  character  of  those  who  are  to  be  its  denizens. 

Some  of  the  facts  of  modern  astronomy  impress  us  with  the 


466  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

idea  that  this  principle  of  progress  may  extend  to  other  worlds. 
Some  of  these  are  in  a  gaseous  state,  some  condensed  into 
fiery  liquid  globes,  some  covered  with  a  crust  of  solidified 
volcanic  matter,  and  some  surrounded  by  a  liquid,  like  water. 
Do  not  these  facts  justify  the  supposition,  that  the  changes 
which  our  earth  has  undergone  are  merely  a  single  example 
of  a  great  principle  in  God's  government  of  the  natural  world  ? 
If  so,  it  presents  the  divine  wisdom  in  an  interesting  aspect. 
We  see  the  Deity  employing  the  same  matter  for  different 
purposes.  Instead  of  creating  it  for  one  single  economy  of 
organic  beings,  he  seems  to  have  made  it  the  theatre  for  the 
display  of  his  benevolence  through  successive  periods  ;  but  at 
the  same  time  not  losing  sight  of  the  highest  use  he  intended 
to  make  of  it,  by  the  introduction  of  rational  and  immortal 
natures  upon  it.  Human  wisdom  would  have  pronounced  this 
impossible  ;  but  divine  wisdom,  prompted  by  divine  benevo- 
lence, could  accomplish  it. 

Finally,  geology  discloses  to  us  chemical  change  as  a  great 
animating,  controlling,  and  conservative  principle  of  the  mate- 
rial universe. 

When  Newton  brought  to  light  the  principle  of  gravitation, 
and  showed  how  it  controls  and  keeps  in  harmonious  move- 
ment the  heavenly  bodies,  he  developed  the  great  mechanical 
power  by  which  the  universe  is  governed.  And  this  power 
was  supposed  for  a  long  time  to  be  superior  to  all  others. 
But  geology  has  brought  out  a  second  great  controlling  and 
conservative  agency,  —  the  chemical  power,  —  "the  second 
right  hand  of  the  Creator,"  as  Dr.  McCulloch  expressively 
calls  it.  Suppose  matter  under  the  control  of  gravity,  and  let 
it  be  balanced  by  a  centrifugal  force.  You  have,  indeed,  har- 
monious motions  among  the  celestial  bodies,  and,  if  no  dis- 
turbing cause  come  in,  you  have  endless  motion.     But  until 


CHEMICAL    CHANGE    A    CONSERVATIVE    PRINCIPLE.  467 

you  introduce  chemical  agencies,  every  thing  in  the  individual 
worlds  would  be  compacted  by  gravity  into  one  dead  mass  of 
matter,  destined  to  no  resurrection.  But  let  chemical  agen- 
cies leaven  that  mass,  let  affinity  and  cohesion  commence 
their  segregating  processes,  and  constant  motion  and  change 
would  follow,  with  a  thousand  new  and  splendid  forms.  Es- 
pecially when  the  Deity  had  infused  the  living  principle  into 
portions  of  that  matter,  and  put  chemistry,  and  her  handmaid 
electricity,  under  the  control  of  the  vital  power,  would  these 
worlds  teem  with  animation,  and  countless  exhibitions  of 
beauty. 

And  in  all  known  worlds,  these  chemical  changes  are  at 
work  unceasingly.  We  know  not  whether  those  worlds  are 
all  inhabited,  but  we  have  evidence  that  all  are  undergoing 
the  transmutations  of  chemistry  ;  not  on  their  surface  merely, 
but  in  their  deep  interior.  The  consequence  is,  universal 
change  ;  change  often  upon  a  vast  scale  ;  change  extending 
through  thousands  and  millions  of  years,  and  through  the  en- 
tire mass  of  immense  worlds.  We  have  glanced,  in  these  lec- 
tures, at  the  most  important  of  those  changes  which  this  world 
has  undergone,  and  we  have  seen  it  to  be  almost  universal. 
We  have  found  that  the  entire  crust  of  the  globe,  many  miles 
in  thickness,  and  probably  to  its  centre,  has  been  dissolved  by 
heat,  and  much  of  it  also  by  water  ;  that  a  large  part  of  it,  at 
least,  has,  by  the  same  chemistry,  been  made  to  constitute  por- 
tions of  the  animal  frame  ;  that,  even  now,  much  of  its  interior 
is  held  in  igneous  solution,  and  that  probably  the  time  was 
when  its  entire  mass  was  a  molten,  self-luminous  world.  In- 
deed, the  conjecture  is  not  without  some  foundation,  which 
carries  back  this  chemical  action  one  step  farther,  and  makes 
the  world  originally  a  diffi.ised  mass  of  nebula. 

At  this  point  of  the  argument,  geology  appeals  to  astronomy, 


468  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

to  show  how  widely  this  principle  of  chemical  change 
has  operated,  and  still  operates,  in  the  universe.  We  look 
first  at  the  nebulae ;  for  here  we  probably  find  matter  in  its 
most  chaotic  and  attenuated  form,  constituting  self-luminous, 
diffused  masses  of  vapor.  In  some  of  them,  however,  that 
matter  has  begun  to  condense,  doubtless  by  the  radiation  of 
its  heat.  In  the  comets,  we  find  probably  similar  matter, 
some  of  it  still  farther  advanced  in  the  process  of  condensa- 
tion, so  that  perhaps  a  nearly  solid  nucleus  may  exist.  In 
the  sun  and  fixed  stars,  the  condensation  has  gone  on  so  far 
that  cohesive  attraction  begins  to  operate,  the  latent  heat  of 
the  vapor  is  extricated,  and  melted  luminous  worlds  are  the 
result.  Around  them,  however,  there  probably  still  floats  a 
wide  atmosphere  of  the  more  elastic  materials,  which  the  heat 
dissipates,  of  which  the  zodiacal  light,  perhaps,  furnishes  us 
with  an  example.  The  nebulosity  which  surrounds  the  aste- 
roids, Ceres,  Pallas,  Juno,  Vesta,  and  Astrea,  renders  it  proba- 
ble that,  though  they  have  advanced  so  far  in  the  process  of 
refrigeration  as  to  become  opaque,  they  may  still  retain  heat 
enough  to  dissipate  much  of  their  substance.  Still  farther 
advanced  towards  the  condition  of  a  habitable  world  is  the 
moon  ;  and  yet  volcanic  desolation  covers  its  surface.  Not 
improbably  Jupiter  is  nearly  surrounded  with  a  fluid  like 
water,  and  Saturn  by  a  fluid  lighter  than  water  —  being  still 
farther  advanced  towards  the  condition  of  the  earth. 

I  acknowledge  that  these  are  but  slight  glimpses  of  the 
geology  and  chemistry  of  other  worlds.  And  yet,  taken  in 
connection  with  the  geological  history  of  our  own  globe,  do 
they  not  furnish  us  with  some  extremely  probable  examples 
of  those  changes  to  which  our  earth  has  been  subject  ?  They 
show  us  that  worlds  may  exist  in  the  form  of  vapor,  and  that 
some  are  actually  at  this  time  in  the  various  conditions  through 


CHEMICAL  CHANGES  IN  A  CYCLE.  469 

which  geology  supposes  this  world  to  have  passed.  Do  we 
not,  in  these  examples,  gather  strong  intimations  of  a  great 
law  of  chemical  change  in  the  universe  ?  Gaseous  matter, 
so  far  as  we  know,  appears  to  have  been  the  earliest  state  of 
the  universe  ;  and  then,  by  the  agency  of  heat,  it  passes 
through  the  successive  changes  of  liquid  and  solid,  which  have 
been  described. 

The  chemical  changes  that  take  place  on  the  earth,  under 
our  immediate  cognizance,  through  the  agency  of  water,  usu- 
ally proceed,  under  favorable  circumstances,  in  a  cycle  ;  that 
is,  the  substance,  after  passing  through  a  series  of  changes, 
returns  at  length  into  the  same  condition  from  which  it  started. 
Thus  aqueous  vapor,  by  the  loss  of  heat,  is  first  converted 
into  water,  next  into  ice,  and  then,  by  the  access  of  heat,  into 
water  again,  and  at  last  into  vapor.  The  question  naturally 
arises,  whether  those  mutations,  through  which  worlds  are 
passing,  may  not  form  a  similar  cycle.  We  are  able  to  trace 
them  through  several  steps,  from  gaseous  to  liquid,  and  from 
the  liquid  to  the  solid  ;  and  we  are  assured,  on  the  testimony 
of  Scripture,  that  the  next  change  of  the  earth  will  be  from 
solid  to  liquid.  And  in  those  stars  which  in  past  ages  have 
suddenly  broken  forth  with  remarkable  splendor,  and  then 
disappeared,  may  we  not  have  examples  of  other  worlds  burnt 
up,  —  not  annihilated, —  but  deluged  by  fire,  and  either  dissi- 
pated or  again  cooled  ?  What  changes,  if  any,  will  succeed 
the  final  conflgration  of  the  globe,  neither  science  nor  revela- 
tion informs  us. 

Yet,  if  the  laws  of  nature  respecting  heat  are  not  entirely 
altered,  other  changes  must  follow  ;  and  we  have  seen,  in  a 
former  lecture,  that  those  changes  are  perfectly  consistent 
with  our  ideas  of  heaven,  and  that  they  may,  in  fact,  enhance 
the  happiness  of  heaven.  They  may  go  on  forever  ;  in  which 
40 


470  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

case,  we  can  hardly  doubt  but  they  would  form  a  cycle,  though 
how  wide  the  circuit  we  cannot  conjecture  ;  or  they  may,  at 
least,  reach  an  unchanging  state.  I  confess,  however,  that 
the  idea  of  perpetual  change  corresponds  best  with  the  analo- 
gies of  the  existing  universe  ;  and  in  eternity,  as  well  as  in 
time,  it  may  form  an  essential  element  of  happiness. 

In  this  world,  too,  this  unceasing  change,  though  it  presents 
at  first  view  a  strong  tendency  to  ruin,  is,  in  fact,  the  grand 
conservative  principle  of  material  things.  In  a  world  of  life 
and  motion  like  ours,  it  is  impossible  that  bodies,  especiall}'' 
organic  bodies,  should  not  be  sometimes  subject  to  violent  dis- 
arrangements and  destruction  from  the  mechanical  agencies 
which  exist  ;  and  were  no  chemical  changes  possible,  ultimate 
and  irremediable  ruin  must  be  the  result.  But  the  chemical 
powers,  inherent  in  matter,  soon  bring  forth  new  forms  of 
beauty  from  the  ruins ;  and,  in  fact,  throughout  all  nature, 
the  process  of  renovation  usually  counterbalances  that  of  de- 
struction ;  and  thus  far,  indeed,  the  former  has  done  more 
than  this ;  for  every  time  nature  has  changed  her  dress  in  past 
ages,  she  has  put  on  more  lovely  robes,  and  a  fresher  counte- 
nance. Can  we  doubt  that  this  same  principle  of  change, 
operating,  as  it  does,  on  a  stupendous  scale  through  the  uni- 
verse, is  one  of  the  great  means  of  its  preservation  ?  It  seems, 
indeed,  paradoxical  to  say  that  instability  is  the  basis  of  sta- 
bility. But  I  see  not  why  it  is  not  literally  true  ;  and  I  can 
hardly  doubt  but  this  principle  is  superior  to  the  laws  of  grav- 
ity—  superior  to  every  other  law,  in  fact,  for  giving  perma- 
nence and  security  to  the  universe. 

It  is  true  that,  in  the  case  of  man,  connected  as  diminution 
and  decay  are  with  the  curse  denounced  on  sin,  they  as- 
sume, in  his  view,  a  melancholy  aspect ;  and  the  perishable 


CHANGE    A    BASIS    OF    STABILITY.  471 

nature  of  all  created  things  has  ever  been  viewed  by -the  sen- 
timentahst  with  sad  emotions. 

♦*  What  does  not  fade  ?    The  tower  that  long  had  stood 
The  crush  of  thunder,  and  the  warring  winds, 
Shook  by  the  slow  but  sure  destroyer  Time, 
Now  hangs  in  doubtful  ruins  o'er  its  base  ; 
And  flinty  pyramids  and  walls  of  brass 
Descend ;  the  Babylonian  spires  are  sunk  ; 
Achaia,  Rome,  and  Egypt  moulder  down. 
Time  shakes  the  stable  tyranny  of  thrones ; 
And  tottering  empires  rush  by  their  own  weight. 
This  huge  rotundity  we  tread  grows  old. 
And  all  those  worlds  that  roll  around  the  sun. 
The  sun  himself  shall  die,  and  ancient  night 
Again  involve  the  desolate  abyss."  —  Ahenside, 

If  we  turn  now  our  thoughts  away  from  man's  dissolution, 
and  think  how  speedily  chemical  power  will  raise  nature  out 
of  her  grave,  in  renovated  and  increased  beauty,  this  univer- 
sal tendency  to  decay  puts  on  the  aspect  of  a  glorious  trans- 
formation. We  connect  the  changes  around  us  with  those 
which  have  taken  place  in  the  great  bodies  of  the  universe  ; 
we  see  them  all  to  be  but  parts  of  a  far-reaching  plan  of  the 
Deity,  by  which  the  stability  of  the  world  is  maintained,  and 
its  progressive  improvement  secured.  When  we  look  for- 
ward, fancy  kindles  at  the  developments  of  divine  power, 
wisdom,  and  benevolence  which  will  in  this  manner  be  made 
in  the  round  of  eternal  ages.  We  see  that  what  our  ignorance 
had  mistaken  for  a  defect  in  nature  is,  in  fact,  a  great  con- 
servative principle  of  the  universe,  which  Newton  did  not 
discover  because  geology  had  not  yet  unfolded  her  record. 

Such  are  the  developments  of  the  divine  character  and 
plans  unfolded  to  us  by  geology.     Compare  them  now  with 


472  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

the  views  which  have  hitherto  prevailed.  The  common  opin- 
ion has  been,  and  still,  indeed,  is,  that  about  six  thousand 
years  ago  this  earth,  and,  in  fact,  the  whole  material  universe, 
were  spoken  into  existence  in  a  moment  of  time ;  and  that, 
in  a  few  thousand  more,  they  will,  by  a  similar  fiat,  be  swept 
from  existence,  and  be  no  more.  On  the  other  hand,  geology 
places  the  time  when  the  matter  of  the  universe  was  created 
out  of  nothing  at  an  epoch  indefinitely  but  immensely  remote. 
Since  that  epoch,  this  matter  has  passed  through  a  multitude 
of  changes,  and  been  the  seat  of  numerous  systems  of  or- 
ganic life,  unlike  one  another,  yet  all  linked  together  into  one 
great  system  by  a  most  perfect  unity ;  each  minor  system 
being  most  beautifully  adapted  to  its  place  in  the  great  chain, 
and  yet  each  successive  link  becoming  more  and  more  per- 
fect. Nor  does  geology  admit  that  any  evidence  exists  of 
the  future  annihilation  of  the  material  universe  ;  but  rather 
of  other  changes,  by  which  new  and  brighter  displays  of 
divine  wisdom  and  benevolence  shall  be  brought  out,  it  may 
be  in  endless  succession.  Geology  is  not,  indeed,  insensible 
to  the  displays  of  the  divine  character  which  are  exhibited  on 
the  present  theatre  of  the  world.  Indeed,  she  distinctly  rec- 
ognizes the  act  which  is  now  passing  as  the  most  perfect  of 
all.  Yet  this  scene  of  the  great  drama  she  regards  as  only 
one  of  the  units  of  a  similar  series  of  changes  that  have  gone 
by  or  will  hereafter  come ;  the  chain  stretching  so  far  into 
the  eternity  that  is  past  and  the  eternity  that  is  to  come,  that 
the  extremities  are  lost  to  mortal  vision. 

Do  any  shrink  back  from  these  immense  conclusions,  be- 
cause they  so  much  surpass  the  views  they  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  entertain  respecting  the  beginning  and  the  end  of 
the  material  universe  .''  But  why  should  they  be  unwilling  to 
have  geology  liberalize  their  minds  as   much  in  respect  to 


THESE    VIEWS    CONSISTENT    WITH    REVELATION.  473 

duration  as  astronomy  lias  done  in  respect  to  space  ?  Perhaps 
it  is  a  lingering  fear  that  the  geological  views  conflict  with 
revelation.  Such  fears  formerly  kept  back  many  from  giving 
up  their  souls  to  the  noble  truths  of  astronomy.  But  they 
learnt,  at  length,  that  astronomy  merely  illustrates,  and  does 
not  oppose,  revelation.  It  showed  men  how  to  understand 
certain  passages  of  sacred  writ  respecting  the  earth  and 
heavenly  bodies  which  they  had  before  misinterpreted.  Just 
so  is  it  with  geology.  There  is  no  collision  between  its  state- 
ments and  revelation.  It  only  enables  us  more  correctly  to 
interpret  some  portions  of  the  Bible ;  and  then,  when  we 
have  admitted  the  new  interpretation,  it  brings  a  flood  of 
light  upon  the  plans  and  attributes  of  Jehovah.  Geology, 
therefore,  should  be  viewed,  as  it  really  is,  the  auxiliary  both 
of  natural  and  revealed  religion.  And  when  its  religious 
relations  are  fully  understood,  theology,  I  doubt  not,  will  be 
as  anxious  to  cultivate  its  alliance  as  she  has  been  fearful  of 
it  in  days  past. 

"  Shall  it  any  longer  be  said,"  remarks  Dr.  Buckland,  "  that 
a  science  which  unfolds  such  abundant  evidence  of  the  being 
and  attributes  of  God,  can  reasonably  be  viewed  in  any  other 
light  than  as  the  efficient  auxiliary  and  handmaid  of  religion  ? 
Some  few  there  still  may  be  whom  timidity,  or  prejudice,  or 
want  of  opportunity,  allow  not  to  examine  its  evidence  ;  who 
are  alarmed  by  the  novelty,  or  surprised  by  the  magnitude 
and  extent,  of  the  views  which  geology  forces  on  their  atten- 
tion ;  and  who  would  rather  have  kept  closed  the  volume  of 
witness  which  has  been  sealed  up  for  ages  beneath  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  than  to  impose  on  the  student  in  natural 
theology  the  duty  of  studying  its  contents  —  a  duty  in  which, 
for  lack  of  experience,  they  may  anticipate  a  hazardous  or 
laborious  task,  but  which,  by  those  engaged  in  it,  is  found  to 
40* 


474  THE  VAST  PLANS  OF  JEHOVAH. 

be  a  rational,  and  righteous,  and  delightful  exercise  of  the 
highest  faculties  in  multiplying  the  evidence  of  the  existence, 
and  attributes,  and  providence  of  God.  The  alarm,  however, 
which  was  excited  by  the  novelty  of  its  first  discoveries,  has 
well  nigh  passed  away ;  and  those  to  whom  it  has  been  per- 
mitted to  be  the  humble  instruments  of  their  promulgation, 
and  who  have  steadily  persevered,  under  the  firm  conviction 
that '  truth  can  never  be  opposed  to  truth,'  and  that  the  works 
of  God,  when  rightly  understood,  and  viewed  in  their  true 
relations,  and  from  a  right  position,  would  at  length  be  found 
to  be  in  perfect  accordance  with  his  word,  are  now  receiving 
their  high  reward  in  finding  difficulties  vanish,  objections  grad- 
ually withdrawn,  and  in  seeing  the  evidences  of  geology  ad- 
mitted into  the  list  of  witnesses  to  the  truth  of  the  great  fun- 
damental doctrines  of  theology."  —  Bridgeioater  Treatise, 
vol.  i.  p.  593. 

Such,  then,  in  conclusion  of  the  subject,  is  the  religion  of 
geology.  It  has  been  described  as  a  region  divided  between 
the  barren  mountains  of  scepticism  and  the  putrid  fens  and 
quagmires  of  infidelity  and  atheism  ;  producing  only  a  gloomy 
and  a  poisonous  vegetation ;  covered  with  fogs,  and  swept 
over  by  pestilential  blasts.  But  this  report  was  made  by  those 
who  saw  it  at  a  distance.  We  have  found  it  to  be  a  land 
abounding  in  rich  landscapes,  warmed  by  a  bright  sun,  blest 
with  a  balmy  atmosphere,  covered  by  noble  forests  and  sweet 
flowers,  with  fruits  savory  and  healthful.  We  have  ascended 
its  lofty  mountains,  and  there  have  we  been  greeted  with 
prospects  of  surpassing  loveliness  and  overwhelming  sublim- 
ity. In  short,  nowhere  in  the  whole  world  of  science  do  we 
find  regions  where  more  of  the  Deity  is  seen  in  his  works. 
To  him  whose  heart  is  warmed  by  true  piety,  and  whose 
mnid  has  broken  the  narrow  shell  of  prejudice,  and  can  grasp 


GEOLOGY    UNVEILS    PROVIDENCE.  475 

noble  thoughts,  these  are  delightful  fields  through  which  to 
wander.  More  and  more  they  must  become  the  favorite 
haunts  of  such  hearts  and  such  minds.  For  there  do  views 
open  upon  the  soul,  respecting  the  character  and  plans  of  the 
Deity,  as  large  and  refreshing  as  those  which  astronomy  pre- 
sents. Nay,  in  their  practical  bearing,  these  views  are  far 
more  important.  Mechanical  philosophy  introduces  an  un- 
bending and  unvarying  law  between  the  Creator  and  his 
works ;  but  geology  unveils  his  providential  hand,  cutting 
asunder  that  law  at  intervals,  and  planting  the  seeds  of  a  new 
economy  upon  a  renovated  world.  We  thus  seem  to  be 
brought  into  near  communion  with  the  infinite  mind.  We  are 
prepared  to  listen  to  his  voice  when  it  speaks  in  revelation. 
We  recognize  his  guiding  and  sustaining  agency  at  every 
step  of  our  pilgrimage.  And  we  await  in  confident  hope  and 
joyful  anticipation  those  sublime  manifestations  of  his  charac- 
ter and  plans,  and  those  higher  enjoyments  which  will  greet 
the  pure  soul  in  the  round  of  eternal  ages. 


(476) 


LECTURE     XIV. 

SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH,  RIGHTLY  UNDERSTOOD,   IS    RELI- 
GIOUS TRUTH. 

The  connection  between  science  and  religion  has  ever  been 
a  subject  of  deep  interest  to  enlightened  and  reflecting  minds. 
Too  often,  however,  up  to  the  present  time,  has  the  theologian, 
on  the  one  hand,  looked  with  jealousy  upon  science,  fearful 
that  its  influence  was  hurtful  to  the  cause  of  true  religion  ; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  philosopher,  in  the  pride  of  a 
sceptical  spirit,  has  scorned  an  alliance  between  science  and 
theology,  and  even  fancied  many  a  discrepancy.  Both  these 
opinions  are  erroneous  ;  and  disastrously  have  they  operated, 
as  well  upon  science  as  upon  religion.  The  position  which  I 
take,  and  which  I  shall  endeavor  to  maintain,  is,  that  scientific 
truths  rightly  understood ^  is  religious  truth. 

The  proposition  may  be  misunderstood  at  its  first  announce- 
ment, but  I  hope,  ere  its  examination  be  finished,  to  satisfy 
you  that  it  is  true  ;  and  if  so,  that  it  ought  to  reconcile  reli- 
gion to  science,  and  science  to  religion. 

In  arriving  at  correct  conclusions  concerning  this  statement, 
much  will  depend  on  the  meaning  which  we  attach  to  the 
phrase  religious  truth.  Religion  is  properly  defined  to  be 
piety  towards  God.  This  piety  implies  two  things  :  first,  a 
correct  knowledge  of  God  ;  and  secondly,  the  exercise  of 
proper  affections  in  view  of  that  knowledge.  The  former 
constitutes  the  theoretic  part  of  religion,  and  is  investigated 


DEFINITIONS.  477 

solely  by  the  understanding.  The  latter  constitutes  the  prac- 
tical part  of  religion,  and  depends  much  upon  the  will,  the 
heart,  or  the  moral  powers  of  man.  All  truth,  therefore, 
which  illustrates  the  divine  character  or  government,  or  which 
tends  to  produce  right  affections  towards  God,  is  properly  de- 
nominated religious  truth.  If,  then,  I  can  show  that  all  sci- 
entific truth,  rightly  understood,  has  one  or  both  of  these 
effects,  it  will  follow  that  it  is  strictly  religious  truth. 

Scientific  truth  is  but  another  name  for  the  laws  of  nature. 
And  a  law  of  nature  is  merely  the  uniform  mode  in  which  the 
Deity  operates  in  the  created  universe.  It  follows,  then,  that 
science  is  only  a  history  of  the  divine  operations  in  matter 
and  mind. 

In  order  to  avoid  mistake,  we  must  make  a  distinction  be- 
tween the  principles  of  science,  and  the  application  of  those 
principles  to  the  useful  arts  of  life.  The  principles  themselves 
are  an  illustration  of  the  divine  wisdom  and  benevolence,  but 
their  application  to  the  arts  illustrates  the  ingenuity  and  wis- 
dom of  man.  At  the  most,  therefore,  the  latter  only  indirectly 
and  remotely  exhibits  the  character  of  the  Deity,  while  the 
former  directly  shows  forth  his  perfections. 

I  now  proceed  to  establish  my  general  proposition,  by  show- 
ing, in  the  first  place,  that  all  scientific  truth  is  adapted  to 
prove  the  existence  or  to  illustrate  the  perfections  of  the  Deity. 

After  all  that  has  been  written  on  the  subject  of  natural 
theology,  by  such  men  as  Newintyt,  Ray,  Derham,  Wollas- 
ton,  Clarke,  Butler,  Tucker,  Paley,  Chalmers,  Crombie, 
Brown,  Brougham,  Harris,  M'Cosh,  and  the  authors  of  the 
Bridgewater  Treatises,  I  need  not  surely  go  into  details  to 
prove  that  science  in  general  is  a  great  storehouse  of  facts  to 
illustrate  the  divine  perfections  and  government.  It  is,  in- 
deed,  a  vast  repository,   from   which    materials   have   been 


478  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

drawn  on  which  to  build  the  argument  for  the  divine  existence 
and  character.  Efforts  have  been  made,  it  is  true,  in  mod- 
ern times,  to  show  that  the  whole  argument  from  design  is 
inconclusive.  It  is  said,  that  though  the  operations  of  nature 
seem  to  show  design  and  contrivance,  they  need  no  higher 
powers  than  those  that  exist  in  nature  itself.  They  do  not 
prove  the  existence  of  an  independent  personal  agent,  sepa- 
rate from  the  material  world.  Animals,  and  even  plants,  pos- 
sess an  inherent  power  of  adapting  themselves  to  circum- 
stances ;  and  may  not  a  higher  exercise  of  this  same  power 
explain  all  the  operations  of  nature  without  any  other  Deity  .? 

This  argument  appears  to  me  to  be  utterly  set  aside  by  the 
following  considerations  :  In  the  first  place,  there  is  no  power 
inherent  in  vegetable  or  animal  natures  which  can  properly 
be  called  the  power  of  contrivance  and  design,  except  so  far 
as  it  exists  in  their  minds.  All  other  examples  show  merely 
the  operation  of  impulse,  or  instinct,  and  will  not  at  all  ex- 
plain that  wide-reaching  contrivance  and  design  which  cause 
all  the  operations  of  nature  to  conspire  to  certain  great  results, 
and  to  constitute  one,  and  only  one,  great  system.  In  the  sec- 
ond place,  the  operations  of  intellect  furnish  us  with  the  only 
examples  in  nature  of  that  kind  of  contrivance  and  design 
which  must  have  arranged  and  adapted  the  parts  of  the  uni- 
verse. But  in  the  third  place,  no  intellect,  within  our  knowl- 
edge, is  capacious  enough  to  have  contrived  and  arranged  the 
universe.  Indeed,  to  the  capacity  of  that  mind  which  could 
have  done  this  we  can  assign  no  limits,  and,  therefore,  infer  it 
to  be  infinite.  In  other  words,  we  infer  the  existence  of  the 
Deity.  In  the  fourth  place,  the  whole  force  of  this  argument 
rests  upon  the  supposed  uniformity  of  nature.  For  no  one 
imagines  that  there  exists  at  present,  in  nature,  any  power  of 
contrivance  and  design  sufficient  to  work  a  miracle  ;  in  other 


PROOF    OF    THE    DIVINE    EXISTENCE.  479 

words,  t©  introduce  new  races  of  animals  and  plants.  "  Could 
this  uniformity  once  be  broken  up,"  says  an  ingenious  exposi- 
tor of  this  atheistic  argument,  "  could  this  rigid  order  be  once 
infringed  for  a  good  and  manifest  reason,  it  would  change  the 
whole  face  of  the  argument.  Could  we  see  the  sun  stand  still 
in  heaven,  that  the  wicked  might  be  overthrown,  then  should 
we  be  assured  of  a  personal  power  with  a  distinct  will,  whose 
agents  and  ministers  these  laws  were.  Such  an  event  would 
be  a  miracle.  But  if  such  events  have  happened,  they  are  not 
a  part  of  nature  ;  it  is  not  nature  that  tells  us  of  them,  and  it 
is  only  with  her  that  we  are  at  present  concerned."  —  Presi- 
dent Hopkins,  Quarterly  Observer,  Oct.  1833,  p.  309. 

Geology,  however,  does  reveal  to  us  miracles  of  stupen- 
dous' import,  miracles  of  creation,  which  infinite  power  and 
wisdom  alone  could  have  produced.  Hence,  if  the  testimony 
of  that  science  be  admitted,  this  reasoning  can  no  longer  stand 
the  test  of  examination,  and  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the 
argument  for  God's  existence  from  design,  which  has  ever 
been  so  satisfactory  to  every  mind  not  clouded  by  metaphys- 
ics, is  left  standing  on  an  immovable  foundation. 

To  return  to  the  point  from  which  we  started  :  it  is  not 
necessary,  I  say,  to  go  into  a  detailed  examination  of  each 
particular  science,  and  show  how  its  principles  prove  and 
illustrate  the  being  and  attributes  of  the  Deity,  for  the  work 
has  already  been  done  more  ably  and  thoroughly  than  I  can 
do  it,  and  admitted  by  all,  save  the  few  who  reject  the  argu- 
ment from  design  altogether.  There  are  a  few  sciences, 
however,  which  have  been  hitherto  chiefly  passed  by,  because 
they  were  not  supposed  capable  of  throwing  any  light  of  con- 
sequence upon  theology.  Let  us  see  whether  these  sciences 
are  as  barren  of  religious  interest  as  has  been  supposed. 

Geology  is  a  branch  of  knowledge,  which,  a  few  years  ago, 


480  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

would  have  been  at  once  selected  as  not  only  destitute  of  any 
important  religious  applications,  but  as  of  a  positively  injurious 
tendency ;  and  even  now,  such  is  the  feeling  probably  of  a 
majority  of  the  religious  world.  True,  it  touches  religion, 
natural  and  revealed,  at  many  points;  but  so  novel  and  star- 
tling are  its  conclusions,  that  they  are  thought  to  unsettle  more 
minds  than  they  confirm.  They  fall  in  with  many  of  the 
views  of  scepticism,  and  especially  confirm  its  doubts  con- 
cerning the  age  of  the  world,  and  compel  the  religious  man 
to  give  up  long-cherished  opinions  upon  this  point,  and  on 
other  collateral  subjects.  But  we  have  gone  into  a  careful 
examination  of  the  religious  applications  of  this  science,  and 
have  we  not  found  it  most  fertile  in  its  illustrations  both  of 
natural  and  revealed  religion  ?  Let  us  just  recapitulate  the 
conclusions  at  which  we  have  arrived. 

In  the  first  place,  geology  furnishes  important  illustrations 
of  revealed  religion.  It  confirms  the  statement  that  the  pres- 
ent continents  of  our  globe  were  once,  and  for  an  indefinite 
time,  beneath  the  ocean,  and  that  they  were  subsequently 
lifted  above  the  waters  by  internal  agencies.  It  agrees  with 
revelation  in  making  water  and  heat  the  two  great  agents  of 
geological  change  upon  and  within  the  earth,  and  that  the 
work  of  creation,  after  the  production  of  matter,  was  pro- 
gressive. It  shows  us  equally  with  revelation,  that  the  existing 
races  of  animals  and  plants  on  the  globe  were  created  at  a 
comparatively  recent  epoch,  and  that  man  commenced  his 
existence  not  more  than  six  thousand  years  ago.  It  shows  us, 
also,  that  the  earth  contains  within  itself  the  volcanic  agency 
necessary  for  its  future  destruction  by  combustion,  as  de- 
scribed in  the  Bible. 

But,  perhaps,  the  most  important  illustration  of  revealed 
truth,  which  geology  aflJbrds,  is  the  light  which  it  casts  upon 


ILLUSTRATION  OF  THE  BIBLE.  481 

certain  passages  of  the  Bible  relating  to  the  creation.  As 
those  texts  which  represent  the  earth  as  immovable,  and  the 
heavenly  bodies  as  moving  diurnally  around  it,  were  not  rightly 
understood,  until  astronomy  had  discovered  the  true  theory  of 
the  solar  system,  so  those  passages  which  relate  to  the  period 
of  the  creation  of  the  universe,  the  introduction  of  death  into 
the  world,  and  the  extent  and  operation  of  the  deluge,  were 
misinterpreted  till  geology  disclosed  their  true  meaning.  It 
is  still  customary,  indeed,  to  speak  of  geology  and  revelation 
as  in  collision  with  each  other  on  these  subjects  ;  but  this  is  a 
false  view  of  the  case.  Revelation  is  illustrated,  not  opposed, 
by  geology.  Who  thinks,  at  this  day,  of  any  discrepancy 
between  astronomy  and  revelation  ?  And  yet,  two  hundred 
years  ago,  the  evidence  of  such  discrepancy  was  far  more 
striking  than  any  which  can  now  be  offered  to  show  geology 
at  variance  with  the  Scriptures.  We  ought,  therefore,  to  look 
upon  that  science  as  illustrating,  instead  of  opposing,  the 
Scriptures. 

Having  once  admitted  the  conclusions  of  geology  as  to  the 
great  age  of  the  world,  and  a  flood  of  light  is  shed  upon  some 
of  the  most  difficult  points  both  of  natural  and  revealed  reli- 
gion. It  shows  the  occurrence  of  numerous  changes  on  the 
globe  which  nothing  but  the  power  of  God  could  have  pro- 
duced, and  which  in  fact  were  most  striking  and  stupendous 
miracles.  Hence  the  arguments  which  have  so  long  been 
employed  to  show  that  the  world  is  eternal  are  rendered  nu- 
gatory ;  for  if  we  can  point  to  epochs  when  entire  races  of 
animals  and  plants  began  to  exist  on  the  globe,  we  prove  the 
agency  of  a  Deity  quite  as  strikingly  as  if  we. could  show  the 
moment  when  the  matter  of  the  world  was  summoned  into 
existence  out  of  nothing.  In  the  same  manner,  also,  we  si- 
lence the  argument  against  the  giving  of  a  revelation  from 
41 


482  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

heaven,  as  well  as  the  miracles  by  which  it  is  substantiated, 
on  the  ground  that  we  have  no  example  of  a  special  interfer- 
ence with  the  established  course  of  nature.  Here  we  have 
interpositions  long  anterior  to  man's  existence,  as  well  as  by 
his  creation,  which  take  away  all  improbability  from  those 
which  are  implied  in  a  revelation.  We  hence  likewise  estab- 
lish the  doctrine  of  a  special  providence  over  the  world  —  a 
doctrine  proved  with  great  difficulty  by  any  other  reasoning 
of  natural  theology. 

Still  more  abundant  is  the  evidence  derived  from  geology 
of  the  divine  benevolence.  And  this  evidence  comes  mostly 
from  the  operations  and  final  effect  of  the  most  desolating 
agencies,  heretofore  regarded  as  a  proof  of  malevolence,  or, 
at  least,  of  vindictive  justice ;  and  we  may  reasonably  infer, 
that  could  we  look  through  the  whole  system  of  divine  govern- 
ment, we  should  find  that  all  evil  is  only  a  necessary  means 
of  the  greatest  good. 

No  one  can  examine  existing  nature  without  being  con- 
vinced that  all  its  parts  and  operations  belong  to  one  great 
system.  Geology  makes  other  economies  of  wide  extent  to 
pass  before  us,  opening  a  vista  indefinitely  backward  into  the 
hoary  past ;  and  it  is  gratifying  to  witness  that  same  unity  of 
design  pervading  all  preceding  periods  of  the  world's  history, 
linking  the  whole  into  one  mighty  scheme,  worthy  its  infinite 
Contriver. 

How  much,  also,  does  this  science  enlarge  our  conceptions 
of  the  plans  and  operations  of  Jehovah  !  We  had  been  ac- 
customed to  limit  our  views  of  the  creative  agency  of  God  to 
the  few  thousand  years  of  man's  existence,  and  to  anticipate 
the  destruction  of  the  material  universe  in  a  few  thousand 
years  more.  But  geology  makes  the  period  of  man's  exist- 
ence on  the  globe  only  one  short  link  of  a  chain  of  revolutions 


MATHEMATICAL    LAWS.  483 

which  preceded  his  existence,  and  which  reaches  forward  im- 
measurably far  into  the  future.  We  see  the  same  matter  in 
the  hands  of  infinite  wisdom,  and  by  means  of  the  great  con- 
servative principle  of  chemical  change,  passing  through  a 
multitude  of  stupendous  revolutions,  sustaining  countless  and 
varied  forms  of  organic  life,  and  presenting  an  almost  illim- 
itable panorama  of  the  plans  of  an  infinite  God. 

If  such  is  the  fruit  which  geology  pours  into  the  lap  of  re- 
ligion, how  misunderstood  have  been  its  principles  !  In  many 
a  mind  there  is  still  an  anxious  fear  lest  its  discoveries  should 
prove  unfavorable  to  religion  ;  and  they  would  feel  greatly- 
relieved  could  they  only  be  assured  that  no  influence  injurious 
to  piety  would  emanate  from  that  science.  But  we  can  give 
them  far  more  than  this  assurance.  We  can  draw  from  this 
science  more  to  illustrate  and  confirm  religion  than  from  any 
other  ;  and  we  believe  that  the  history  of  the  past  justifies  the 
general  conclusion,  that  those  sciences  whose  early  develop- 
ments excited  most  apprehensions  of  a  collision  with  religion, 
have  ultimately  furnished  the  most  abundant  illustrations  of 
its  principles. 

Another  science  regarded  as  barren  of  religious  applica- 
tions, and  even  as  sometimes  positively  injurious,  is  mathe- 
matics. Its  principles  are,  indeed,  of  so  abstruse  a  nature, 
that  it  is  not  easy  to  frame  out  of  them  a  religious  argument 
that  is  capable  of  popular  illustration.  But,  in  fact,  mathe- 
matical laws  form  the  basis  of  nearly  all  the  operations  of 
nature.  They  constitute,  as  it  were,  the  very  framework  of 
the  material  world.  When  we  look  up  to  the  heavenly  bodies, 
we  see  them  directed  and  controlled,  along  with  the  earth,  by 
those  laws,  which  vary  not,  by  an  iota,  from  century  to  cen- 
tury. The  infinity  of  changes,  which  are  going  on  in  the 
constitution  of  bodies  upon  and  within  the  earth,  chemistry 


484  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELICxIOUS    TRUTH. 

reduces  to  mathematical  laws.  So  far  as  organic  operations 
depend  upon  chemical  changes,  —  and  this  is  very  far, — 
mathematics  is  the  controlling  power.  I  will  not  say,  that  life 
and  intellect  are  in  a  strict  sense  under  the  guidance  of  math- 
ematics ;  and  yet  I  doubt  not  that  their  operations  are  limited 
and  controlled  by  its  principles.  Confident  am  I  that  atmos- 
pheric changes,  apparently  quite  as  anomalous  and  irregular 
as  the  movements  of  the  vital  and  intellectual  principles,  rest 
on  mathematics  as  certainly  as  do  the  revolutions  of  the  heav- 
enly bodies. 

It  seems,  then,  that  this  science  forms  the  very  foundation 
of  all  arguments  for  Theism,  from  the  arrangements  and  oper- 
ations of  the  material  universe.  We  do,  indeed,  neglect  the 
foundation,  and  point  only  to  the  superstructure,  when  we 
state  these  arguments.  But  suppose  mathematical  laws  to  be 
at  once  struck  from  existence,  and  what  a  hideous  chaos 
would  the  universe  present !  What  then  would  become  of 
the  marks  of  design  and  unity  in  nature,  and  of  the  Theist's 
argument  for  the  being  of  a  God  ? 

But  mathematical  principles  furnish  several  interesting  illus- 
trations of  truth,  of  no  small  importance.  In  a  former  lecture, 
we  have  seen  how  the  doctrine  of  miracles  stands  forth  com- 
pletely vindicated  by  an  appeal  to  mathematical  laws  ;  how,  in 
fact,  they  might  have  formed  a  part  of  the  original  plan  of  the 
universe,  when  first  it  was  conceived  in  the  divine  mind,  and 
how  their  occurrence  may  be  as  much  the  result  of  a  fixed  law 
as  the  most  common  operations  of  nature  ;  so  that  in  this  way 
all  improbability  of  their  occurrence,  on  the  ground  that  nature 
is  constant,  is  removed.  These  views  are  illustrated  in  that 
singular,  yet  original  work  of  Professor  Babbage,  called  the 
"  Ninth  Bridgewater  Treatise,"  a  work  written,  it  is  true,  in 
part,  under  the  influence  of  exasperated  feelings,  but  yet  full 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  THE  TRINITY.  485 

of  original  and  ingenious  suggestions.  But  these  views  have 
been  so  fully  presented  in  the  Lecture  on  Special  and  Mirac- 
ulous Providence,  and  in  that  upon  the  Telegraphic  System 
of  the  Universe,  that  they  need  not  here  be  repeated. 

Mathematics,  also,  aids  our  conceptions  of  truths  of  religion 
difficult  or  impossible,  from  their  nature,  of  being  understood 
by  finite  beings.  All  the  attributes  of  the  Deity,  being  infi- 
nite, are  of  this  description.  But  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
contemplation  of  a  mathematical  series,  either  increasing  or 
decreasing,  gives  us  the  strongest  apprehension  of  infinity 
which  we  can  attain.  It  puts  into  our  hands  a  thread  by 
which  we  can  find  our  way,  as  far  as  our  powers  will  carry 
us,  towards  infinity.  True,  after  we  have  followed  the  series 
till  the  mind  stops  exhausted,  we  are  no  nearer  infinity  than 
when  we  started ;  yet  we  do  get  most  deeply  impressed  with 
the  unfathomableness  of  the  abyss  that  separates  the  finite  from 
the  infinite. 

To  many  minds  all  statements  of  the  biblical  doctrine  of 
the  Trinity  appear  so  absurd  and  contradictory  as  to  be  inca- 
pable of  belief  Yet  let  it  be  stated  to  a  man,  for  the  first 
time,  that  two  lines  may  approach  each  other  forever  without 
meeting,  and  it  must  appear  equally  absurd.  But  after  you 
have  demonstrated  to  him  the  properties  of  the  hyperbola  and 
its  asymptote,  the  apparent  absurdity  vanishes.  So,  when  the 
theologian  has  stated,  that  by  the  divine  unity  he  means  only 
a  numerical  unity,  —  in  other  words,  that  there  is  but  one  Su- 
preme Being,  and  that  the  three  persons  of  the  Godhead  are 
one  in  this  sense,  and  three  only  in  those  respects  not  incon- 
sistent with  this  unity,  —  every  philosophical  mind,  whether  it 
admits  that  the  Scriptures  teach  this  doctrine  or  not,  must  see 
that  there  is  no  absurdity  or  contradiction  in  it.  And  thus  it 
may  happen,  that  the  solution  of  a  man's  difldculties  on  this 
41* 


486  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

subject  may  come  from  a  proposition  of  conic  sections,  as  in 
fact  we  know  to  have  been  the  case. 

It  is  said,  however,  that  mathematicians  have  been  unusu- 
ally prone  to  scepticism  concerning  rehgious  truth.  If  it  be 
so,  it  probably  originates  from  the  absurd  attempt  to  apply 
mathematical  reasoning  to  moral  subjects  ;  or,  rather,  the  devo- 
tees of  this  science  often  become  so  attached  to  its  demonstra- 
tions, that  they  will  not  admit  any  evidence  of  a  less  certain 
character.  They  do  not  realize  the  total  difference  between 
moral  and  mathematical  reasonings,  and  absurdly  endeavor  to 
stretch  religion  on  the  Procrustean  bed  of  mathematics.  No 
wonder  they  become  sceptics.  But  the  fault  is  in  themselves, 
not  in  this  science,  whose  natural  tendencies,  upon  a  pure  and 
exalted  mind,  are  favorable  to  religion,  because  its  principles 
illustrate  religion. 

There  are  several  other  sciences,  whose  earlier  develop- 
ments were  supposed  for  a  time  to  be  unfavorable  to  religion ; 
and  hence  has  originated  a  ground  of  apprehension  respecting 
science  generally.  When  the  Copernican  system  of  astron- 
omy was  introduced,  it  was  thought  impossible  ever  to  recon- 
cile it  to  the  plain  declai-ations  of  Scripture  ;  and  hence  at 
least  one  venerable  astronomer  was  obliged  to  recant  that 
system  upon  his  knees.  Similar  fears  of  collision  between 
science  and  revelation  were  excited  when  chemistry  announced 
that  the  main  part  of  the  earth  has  already  been  oxidized,  and, 
therefore,  could  not  hereafter  be  literally  burnt.  Because 
some  physiologists  have  been  materialists,  it  has  been  inferred 
that  physiology  was  favorable  to  materialism.  But  it  is  now 
found  that  they  were  materialists  in  spite  of  physiology,  rather 
than  from  a  correct  interpretation  of  its  facts. 

Strong  apprehensions  have  also  been  excited  respecting 
phrenology  and  mesmerism.     And,  indeed,  in  their  present 


.PHRENOLOGY  AND  MESMERISM.  487 

aspect,  these  sciences  are  probably  made  to  exert  a  more  un- 
friendly influence  upon  vital  religion  than  any  other.  Those 
who  profess  to  understand  and  teach  them  have  been,  for 
the  most  part,  decided  opponents  of  special  providence  and 
special  grace,  and  many  of  them  materialists.  But  this  is  not 
because  there  are  any  special  grounds  for  such  opinions  in 
phrenology  or  mesmerism.  The  latter  branch,  indeed,  affords 
such  decided  proofs  of  immaterialism,  as  to  have  led  several 
able  materialists  to  change  their  views.  Nor  does  phrenology 
afford  any  stronger  proof  that  law  governs  the  natural  world, 
than  do  the  other  sciences.  But  when  a  man  who  is  sceptical 
becomes  deeply  interested  in  any  branch  of  knowledge,  and 
fancies  himself  to  be  an  oracle  respecting  it,  he  will  torture 
its  principles  till  they  are  made  to  give  testimony  in  favor  of 
his  previous  sceptical  views,  although,  in  fact,  the  tones  are 
as  unnatural  as  those  of  ventriloquism,  and  as  deceptive. 
When  true  philosophy  shall  at  length  determine  what  are  the 
genuine  principles  of  phrenology  and  mesmerism,  we  can 
judge  of  their  bearing  upon  religion ;  but  the  history  of  other 
sciences  shows  us  that  we  need  have  no  fears  of  any  col- 
lision, when  the  whole  subject  is  brought  fairly  into  the 
daylight. 

Upon  the  whole,  every  part  of  science,  which  has  been 
supposed,  by  the  fears  of  friends  or  malice  of  foes,  to  con- 
flict with  religion,  has  been  found,  at  length,  when  fully  under- 
stood, to  be  in  perfect  harmony  with  its  principles,  and  even 
to  iUustrate  them.  It  is  high  time,  therefore,  for  the  friends 
of  religion  to  cease  fearing  any  injury  to  the  cause  of  religion 
from  science  ;  and  high  time,  also,  for  the  enemies  of  religion 
to  cease  expecting  any  such  collision. 

In  conclusion  of  this  argument,  we  may  safely  challenge 
any  one  to  point  out  a  single  principle  of  science  which  does 


488  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

not  in  some  way  illustrate  the  perfections  of  the  Deity  ;  and 
if  he  cannot,  scientific  truth  may  be  appropriately  called  re- 
ligious truth,  especially  since  such  illustrations  are  the  highest 
use  to  which  science  can  be  applied.  It  is  no  drawback  on 
the  argument  because  so  few  make  this  use  of  science,  nor 
because  some  attempt  to  array  science  against  religion  ;  for 
this  only  shows  how  men  may  neglect  the  most  important  use 
to  which  science  can  be  applied,  or  how  they  can  pervert  the 
richest  gifts. 

I  derive  a  second  argument  in  support  of  the  general  posi- 
tion, that  scientific  truth  is  religious  truth,  from  the  fact  that 
it  will  survive  the  present  worlds  and  its  examination  become 
a  part  of  the  employments  and  enjoyments  of  heaven. 

The  Scriptures  are,  indeed,  sparing  in  their  details  of  the 
specific  employments  of  the  heavenly  world,  except  so  far  as 
worship  and  praise  are  concerned.  But  that  worship  will  un- 
doubtedly be  the  spontaneous  impulse  of  the  heart,  (as  it  is  in 
this  world  when  acceptable,)  in  view  of  some  manifestations 
of  the  divine  character.  Accordingly,  the  first  sentence  of  the 
future  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb,  as  the  saints  stand  with 
the  harps  of  God  upon  the  sea  of  glass,  is,  Great  and  marvel- 
lous are  thy  works,  Lord  God  Almighty.  The  works  of  God, 
then,  will  be  studied  in  the  future  world  ;  and  what  is  that  but 
the  study  of  the  sciences  ?  It  is,  indeed,  said  by  the  apostle, 
that  whether  there  be  tongues,  they  shall  cease,  [that  is,  in  a  fu- 
ture world  ;]  whether  there  be  knowledge,  it  shall  vanish  away  ; 
and  hence  it  has  sometimes  been  inferred  that  all  the  knowl- 
edge which  we  acquire  in  this  world  will  disappear  with  this 
world.  But  this  cannot  be  the  meaning  of  the  passage,  for 
in  a  variety  of  places  the  Bible  represents  both  the  righteous 
and  wicked  in  another  world  as  conscious  of  what  took  place 
on  earth  ;  and,  unless  the  nature  of  the  mind  be  changed  at 


ANATOMY   AND    PHYSIOLOGY.  489 

death,  it  is  not  possible  to  conceive  that  the  knowledge  we 
acquire  here  should  be  lost.  This  passage  may  refer  to  one 
of  those  gifts  of  inspiration  peculiar  to  apostolic  times,  called 
by  the  sacred  writer  the  loord  of  knowledge.  But  more  prob- 
ably he  meant  to  teach  that,  so  much  brighter  and  clearer  will 
be  the  disclosures  of  another  world,  that  most  of  our  present 
knowledge  will  be  eclipsed  and  forgotten.  But  this  does  not 
imply  that  our  future  knowledge  will  be  essentially  different 
in  nature  from  that  which  we  acquire  on  earth.  The  grand 
difference  is,  that  now  ice  see  through  a  glass  darkly.,  hut  then 
face  to  face. 

We  can,  also,  see  why  some  branches  of  science  cultivated 
on  earth  should  be  very  much  modified  in  a  future  world. 
There  are  several,  for  instance,  dependent  mainly  upon  the 
present  organic  constitution  of  nature ;  and  of  such  branches 
only  the  general  principles  can  survive  the  destruction  of  the 
existing  framework  of  animals  and  plants.  Take,  for  an  ex- 
ample, anatomy  and  physiolog}^  We  believe,  indeed,  that 
the  new  earth,  wherein  dwelleth  righteousness,  will  be  mate- 
rial, and  that  the  bodies  of  men  will  also  be  material.  But 
even  though  these  bodies  should  be  organized,  we  learn  from 
the  Scriptures  that  this  organization  will  be  very  different 
from  our  present  bodies.  They.,  says  Christ,  who  shall  he 
accounted  worthy  to  obtain  that  world.,  and  the  resurrection, 
from  the  dead,  neither  marry  nor  are  given  in  marriage^ 
neither  can  they  die  any  more ;  for  they  are  equal  unto  the 
angels.  Paul's  vivid  description  of  the  future  spiritual  body 
leaves  the  impression  on  the  mind  that  it  must  be  very  dis- 
similar to  our  present  bodies.  He  does  not  attempt  to  define 
the  spiritual  body,  probably  because  we  could  not  understand 
the  definition,  since  it  would  be  so  unlike  any  thing  on  earth. 
He    represents    it    as    incorruptible,  powerful,  and    glorious. 


490  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

entirely  in  contrast  with  our  present  bodies,  and  declares 
that  it  is  not  flesh  and  blood,  and  that  it  is  not  organized  like 
our  present  bodies. 

It  seems,  then,  that  we  have  no  certain  evidence  that  the 
future  spiritual  body  will  be  organized  ;  and  in  a  former  lec- 
ture we  have  seen  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  it  en- 
dowed with  organs.  If  not,  it  is  obvious  that  the  sciences  of 
anatomy  and  physiology  can  have  no  existence  in  a  future 
world,  except  in  the  memory.  On  the  other  hand,  however, 
there  are  some  things  in  Paul's  description  of  the  future  body 
that  make  it  quite  probable  that  its  organization  will  be  much 
more  exquisite  than  any  thing  in  existence  on  earth.  He 
represents  it  as  springing  from  our  present  bodies  as  a  germ 
from  a  seed  ;  and  this  would  seem  to  imply  organization ; 
though  we  must  not  infer  too  much  from  a  mere  rhetorical 
similitude.  But  he  also  represents  the  spiritual  body  as  far 
transcending  the  natural  body  in  glory  and  in  power ;  and, 
since  the  latter  is  fearfully  and  wonderfully  made,  we  know 
of  nothing  but  the  most  exquisite  organization  that  can  give 
the  spiritual  body  such  a  superiority  over  the  natural.  Ad- 
mitting that  such  will  be  its  structure,  and,  although  the 
nomenclature  of  anatomy  and  physiology,  which  is  adapted 
to  flesh  and  blood,  shall  pass  away  and  be  forgotten,  yet 
analogous  sciences  shall  be  substituted,  based  on  facts  and 
principles  far  more  interesting,  and  developing  relations  and 
harmonies  far  more  beautiful.  It  may  be  thought,  indeed, 
that,  so  different  will  be  these  sciences  from  any  thing  on 
earth,  that  there  can  be  no  common  principles  and  no  link  of 
connection.  But  the  longer  a  man  studies  the  works  of  God, 
the  more  inclined  will  he  be  to  regard  the  universe,  material 
and  immaterial,  as  founded  on  eternal  principles ;  as,  in  fact, 
a  transcript  of  the  divine  nature  ;  and  that  all  the  changes  in 


BOTANY.  491 

nature  are  only  new  developments  of  unchanging  funda- 
mental laws,  not  the  introduction  of  new  laws.  Hence  the 
philosopher  would  infer  that  in  existing  nature  we  have  the 
prototype  of  new  heavens  and  a  new  earth  ;  and  although 
a  future  condition  of  things  may  be  as  different  from  the 
present  as  the  plant  is  from  the  seed  out  of  which  it  springs, 
still,  as  the  seed  contains  the  embryo  of  a  future  plant,  so  the 
future  world  may,  as  it  were,  lie  coiled  up  in  the  present.  If 
in  these  suggestions  there  is  any  truth,  there  may  be  a  germ 
in  the  anatomy  and  physiology  of  the  present  world,  which 
shall  survive  the  destruction  of  the  present  economy,  and  un- 
fold,  in  far  higher  beauty  and  glory,  in  the  more  congenial 
climate  of  the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth.  If  so,  the 
great  principles  of  these  sciences  which  are  acquired  on 
earth,  and  which  are  so  prolific  in  exhibitions  of  divine  skill, 
may  not  prove  to  be  lost  knowledge.  They  shall  be  recog- 
nized as  types  of  those  far  higher  and  richer  developments 
of  organization  which  the  spiritual  body  shall  exhibit. 

It  may  be  still  more  difficult  to  show  that  such  a  science  as 
botany  will  have  a  place  in  the  new  earth ;  simply  because 
we  have  no  certain  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  vegetation 
there.  We  can  infer  nothing  on  this  subject  from  the  figura- 
tive representations  of  the  new  Jerusalem  in  Revelation,  since 
the  drapery  is  all  derived  from  this  world.  But,  on  the  gen- 
eral principle  already  stated,  that  the  universe  constitutes  but 
one  vast  and  harmonious  system,  and  all  the  economies  upon 
it,  past,  present,  and  future,  ai*e  only  different  developments 
of  eternal  principles,  this  consideration,  I  say,  should  make 
us  hesitate  before  we  infer  the  annihilation  of  the  vast  vege- 
table kingdom  upon  the  destruction  of  the  present  economy 
of  the  world.  And  it  does  give  us  an  aspect  of  extreme  bar- 
renness and  cheerlessness  to  think  of  the  new  earth  entirely 


492 


SCIENTIFIC    TKUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 


swept  of  every  thing  analogous  to  the  existing  foliage,  flowers, 
and  fruits.  We  have  attempted  to  show,  however,  in  another 
place,  that  the  spiritual  body  may  be  of  such  a  nature  that  it 
might  exist  in  a  temperature  so  high,  or  so  low,  as  to  prevent 
the  existence  of  such  organic  natures  as  now  exist.  But  how 
easy  for  the  Deity  to  create  such  natures  as  are  adapted  to 
extremes  of  temperature  as  wide  as  we  now  are  acquainted 
with  ;  and  that,  too,  on  the  same  type  as  existing  nature  ; 
so  that  the  new  earth,  while  yet  an  incandescent,  glowing 
ocean,  might  teem  with  animals  and  plants,  organized  on  the 
same  general  principles  as  those  of  the  present  earth  !  But 
there  is  another  supposition.  I  have  endeavored  to  show  that 
change  ever  has  been,  and  probably  ever  will  be,  one  of  the 
grand  means  by  which  mind  is  introduced  to  higher  spheres 
of  enjoyment ;  and  even  though  the  new  earth  at  first  should 
be  destitute  of  organic  natures,  both  animal  and  vegetable, 
they  might  be  introduced  in  successive  and  more  perfect 
economies,  as  a  means  of  increased  happiness,  especially 
to  rational  natures.  These  are,  indeed,  only  conjectures  ; 
but  the  balance  of  probabilities  seems  to  me  to  incline  the 
mind  to  the  belief  that  there  may  be  a  botany  as  well  as  zool- 
ogy in  the  future  world,  far'  transcending  their  prototypes 
on  earth. 

Among  the  things  that  we  may  be  certain  will  pass  away 
with  the  present  world  is  the  mode  of  communicating  our 
ideas  by  language.  This  the  apostle  expressly  declares  when 
he  says.  Whether  there  he  tongues^  [that  is,  languages,]  they 
shall  cease.  Now,  the  acquisition  of  languages,  and  the  right 
use  of  language,  or  rhetoric  and  oratory,  constitute  a  large 
part  of  what  men  call  learning  on  earth.  And  the  question 
is,  whether  there  are  any  principles  on  which  these  branches 
of  knowledge  are  based  that  will  become  the  elements  of  new 


INTELLECTUAL    PHILOSOPHY.  493 

and  higher  modes  of  communicating  thought  in  a  future 
world.  These  branches  are,  indeed,  rather  to  be  regarded 
as  arts  than  sciences.  Language  is  the  drapery  for  clothing 
our  thoughts,  and,  unless  we  have  thoughts  to  clothe,  it  be- 
comes useless ;  and  rhetoric  and  oratory  merely  show  us  how 
to  arrange  that  drapery  in  the  most  attractive  and  impressive 
style.  But  there  is  such  a  thing  as  the  philosophy  of  language 
and  the  philosophy  of  rhetoric,  whose  principles  are  derived 
chiefly  from  moral  and  intellectual  philosophy.  And  these, 
we  have  reason  to  believe,  are  eternal.  Different  as  will  be 
the  mode  of  communicating  thoughts  hereafter  from  the  pres- 
ent, we  shall  find  the  same  philosophical  principles  lying  at  its 
foundation.  Hence  we  may  expect  that  there  will  be  a  celes- 
tial language,  a  celestial  rhetoric,  and  a  celestial  oratory,  in 
whose  beauty  and  splendor  those  of  earth  will  be  forgotten. 

I  now  proceed  briefly  to  consider  those  sciences  which, 
having  little  connection  with  material  organization,  we  may 
more  confidently  maintain  will  have  an  existence  on  the 
new  earth. 

It  will  be  hardly  necessary  to  spend  much  time  in  proving 
that  intellectual  philosophy  will  be  one  of  the  subjects  of  in- 
vestigation in  a  future  world.  For  it  would  be  strange  if  the 
noblest  part  of  God's  workmanship,  for  which  materialism 
was  created,  should  cease  to  be  an  object  of  inquiry  in  that 
world  where  alone  it  can  be  investigated  with  much  success. 
When  we  consider  that  the  whole  train  of  mental  phenomena 
is  constantly  passing  under  the  mind's  own  observation,  and 
that  a  vast  amount  of  time  and  talent  has  been  devoted  to 
the  subject  ever  since  man  began  to  philosophize,  —  that  is, 
for  more  than  two  thousand  years,  —  it  would  seem  as  if 
psychology  ere  this  must  have  attained  the  precision  and  cer- 
tainty of  mathematics.  But  how  different  is  the  fact !  I 
42 


494  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

speak  not  of  a  want  of  agreement  in  opinion  on  subordinate 
points,  for  these  minor  diversities  must  be  expected  in  any 
science  not  strictly  demonstrative.  Even  astronomy  abounds 
with  them.  But  metaphysical  philosophers  have  not  yet  been 
able  to  settle  fundamental  principles.  They  are  not  yet 
agreed  as  to  the  existence  of  many  of  the  most  familiar  and 
important  intellectual  powers  and  principles  of  action.  The 
systems  of  Locke  and  Hume,  constructed  with  great  ability, 
were  overthrown  by  Reid  ;  Stewart  differed  much  from 
Reid ;  and  Dr.  Thomas  Brown  has  powerfully  attacked  the 
fabric  erected  by  Stewart.  And  lastly,  the  phrenologists, 
with  no  mean  ability,  have  endeavored  to  show  that  all  these 
philosophers  are  heaven-wide  of  the  truth,  because  they  have 
so  much  neglected  the  influence  of  the  material  organs  on 
the  mental  powers.  Now,  this  diversity  of  result,  arrived 
at  by  men  of  such  profound  abilities,  shows  that  there  are 
peculiar  difficulties  in  the  study  of  mind,  originating,  proba- 
bly, in  the  fact  that,  in  this  world,  we  never  see  the  operation 
of  mind  apart  from  a  gross  material  organization.  But  in 
another  state,  where  no  organization  will  exist,  or  one  far  better 
adapted  to  mental  operations,  we  may  hope  for  such  a  clarifi- 
cation of  the  mental  eye  that  the  laws  of  mind  will  assume 
the  precision  and  certainty  of  mathematics,  and  the  relations 
between  mind  and  matter,  now  so  obscure,  be  fully  developed. 
Then,  I  doubt  not,  the  principles  of  mental  science  will  fur- 
nish a  more  splendid  illustration  of  the  divine  perfections  than 
any  which  can  now  be  derived  from  the  material  world. 

Will  any  one  believe  that  the  principles  of  moral  science 
and  mathematics  will  be  altered  or  annihilated  by  the  confla- 
gration of  the  globe  ?  We  believe  them  no  more  dependent 
upon  the  external  universe  than  is  the  divine  existence.  God 
exists  by  a  necessity  of  nature,  and  these  principles  have  the 


THE    NEW    EARTH.  495 

same  unchanging  and  eternal  origin.  If  so,  no  changes  in 
the  nnaterial  world  can  affect  them.  So  far  as  we  understand 
them  here,  we  shall  find  them  true  hereafter  ;  and  we  shall 
doubtless  find  that  our  present  knowledge  is  but  the  mere  twi- 
light of  that  bright  day  which  will  there  pour  its  full  light 
upon  these  subjects.  Mathematical  and  moral  truths,  which 
we  now  suppose  to  be  general  laws,  we  shall  then  find  to  be, 
in  many  cases,  only  the  ramifications  of  principles  far  wider, 
which  we  cannot  now  discover,  and  which  we  could  not  com- 
prehend were  they  open  to  inspection.  And  we  shall  also 
find  that  moral  laws  are  as  certain  and  demonstrable  as  those 
of  mathematics ;  and  that  they  form  the  adamantine  chain 
which  holds  together  the  spiritual  world,  and  gives  it  symme- 
try an<i  beauty,  as  mathematics  links  together  the  material 
universe. 

Among  men  who  understand  biblical  interpretation,  and 
also  the  principles  of  science,  the  belief  in  the  annihilation  of 
the  material  universe  at  the  close  of  man's  probationary  state 
is  fast  disappearing,  and  the  more  scriptural,  philosophical, 
and  animating  doctrine  is  embraced,  that  there  will  be  only  a 
change  of  form  and  condition  of  our  earth  and  its  atmosphere, 
and  that  the  matter  of  the  universe  will  survive,  and  succes- 
sively assume  new  and  more  beautiful  forms,  it  may  be  eter- 
nally. If  so,  all  those  physical  sciences,  which  do  not  depend 
upon  organic  structure,  will  form  subjects  of  investigation  in 
the  heavenly  world.  There  will  be  the  heavenly  bodies,  gov- 
erned by  the  same  laws  as  at  present,  and  offering  a  noble 
field  for  examination.  Nor  will  the  heavenly  inhabitants 
need,  as  on  earth,  visual  organs  and  optical  instruments, 
which,  at  best,  afford  us  only  glimpses  of  the  material  uni- 
verse. For  there,  if  we  rightly  conjecture,  will  they  possess 
the  power  of  learning,  with  almost  intuitive  certainty  and 


496  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

intuitive  rapidity,  the  character  and  movements  of  the  most 
distant  worlds.  Nay,  it  may  be  that  they  can  pass  from  world 
to  world  with  the  velocity  of  light,  and  thus  become  better 
acquainted  with  their  more  intimate  condition.  Thus  will  the 
astronomy  of  the  celestial  world  surpass,  beyond  conception, 
that  science  which  even  now  is  regarded  as  unequalled  for 
its  sublimity. 

We  cannot  be  sure  through  what  material  medium  the  mind 
will  act  in  a  future  world.  But  the  manner  in  which  we  know 
heat,  light,  and  electricity  to  be  transmitted,  makes  it  not  im- 
possible that  the  same  or  a  similar  medium  may  be  the  vehi- 
cle through  which  thought  shall  be  hereafter  transmitted.  If 
so,  we  can  easily  understand  how  the  mind  will  be  able  to 
penetrate  into  the  most  recondite  nature  of  bodies,  and  learn 
the  mode  in  which  they  act  upon  one  another  ;  for  the  curious 
medium  which  conveys  light  and  heat  does  penetrate  all 
bodies,  whether  they  be  solid  or  gaseous,  cold  or  hot.  Hence 
we  may  learn  at  a  glance,  in  a  future  world,  more  of  the  in- 
ternal constitution  of  bodies,  and  of  their  mutual  action,  than 
a  whole  life  on  earth,  spent  in  the  study  of  chemistry,  will 
unfold.  Then,  too,  shall  we  doubtless  find  chemical  laws 
operating  on  a  scale  of  grandeur  and  extent,  limited  only  by 
the  material  universe. 

Universally  diffused  as  light,  heat,  and  electricity  are,  and 
diligently  as  their  phenomena  have  been  studied,  yet  what 
mystery  hangs  over  their  nature  and  operations  !  They  seem 
to  be  too  subtile,  and  to  approximate  too  nearly  to  immaterial 
substances,  to  be  apprehended  by  our  beclouded  intellects. 
When,  therefore,  our  means  of  perception  shall  be  vastly  im- 
proved, as  we  have  reason  to  believe  they  will  be  in  eternity, 
these  will  become  noble  themes  for  examination.  For  who 
can  doubt  that  agents  so  ethereal  in  their  nature,  and  appar- 


GEOLOGY  OF  THE  NEW  EARTH.  497 

ently  indestructible,  and  even  unchanged  by  any  means  with 
which  we  are  acquainted,  will  survive  the  final  catastrophe  of 
our  world  ?  Probably,  indeed,  we  are  allowed  to  catch  only 
glimpses  of  their  nature  and  operations  on  earth,  so  that  we 
may  safely  anticipate  an  immense  expansion  of  the  electricity 
and  optics  which  will  form  a  part  of  the  science  of  heaven. 

We  have  endeavored  to  show,  in  a  former  lecture,  that  the 
future  residence  of  the  righteous  will  be  material ;  that  it  will, 
in  fact,  be  the  present  earth,  purified  by  the  fires  of  the  last 
day,  and  rising  from  the  final  ruin  in  renovated  splendor. 
We  have  shown  that  this  is  the  doctrine  of  Scripture,  of  phi- 
losophy, and  of  a  majority  of  the  Christian  church.  A  solid 
world,  then,  will  exist,  whose  geology  can  be  studied  by  glori- 
fied minds  far  more  accurately  and  successfully  than  the  globe 
which  we  inhabit ;  for  those  minds  will  doubtless  be  able  to 
penetrate  the  entire  mass  of  the  globe,  and  learn  its  whole 
structure.  The  final  conflagration  may,  indeed,  for  the  most 
part,  obliterate  the  traces  of  present  and  past  organic  beings. 
But  according  to  the  doctrine  of  action  and  reaction  in  me- 
chanics, in  chemistry,  in  electricity,  and  in  organization,  every 
change  that  has  ever  passed  over  the  earth  has  left  traces  of 
its  occurrence  which  can  never  be  blotted  out ;  and  it  is  not 
improbable  that  glorified  minds  will  possess  the  power  of  dis- 
covering and  reading  these  records  of  the  past,  if  not  on  the 
principle  just  specified,  yet  in  some  other  way  ;  so  that  the 
entire  geological  history  of  our  planet  will  probably  pass  in 
clear  light  before  them.  Points  which  we  see  only  through 
a  glass  darkly  will  then  stand  forth  in  full  daylight ;  and  from 
the  glimpses  we  are  able  to  obtain  in  this  world  of  its  present 
geological  changes,  what  a  mighty  and  interesting  series  will 
be  seen  by  celestial  minds  !  If,  even  by  the  colored  rays 
which  come  upon  us  through  the  twilight  of  this  world,  we  are 
42* 


498  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

able  to  see  so  many  striking  illustrations  of  the  divine  char- 
acter engraven  on  the  solid  rocks,  what  a  noble  volume  of 
religious  truth  shall  be  found  written  there,  when  the  light  of 
heaven  shall  penetrate  the  earth's  deep  foundations  !  Those 
foundations,  figuratively  described  in  revelation  as  so  many 
precious  stones,  bearing  up  a  city  of  pure  gold,  clear  as  glass, 
will  then  reflect  a  richer  light  than  the  costliest  literal  gems 
which  the  rocks  now  yield.  The  geology  of  heaven  will  be 
resplendent  with  divine  glory. 

We  see,  then,  whh  a  few  probable  exceptions,  resulting 
from  a  difference  between  the  organism  of  heaven  and  earth, 
that  science  will  survive  the  ruin  of  this  world,  and  in  a  nobler 
form  engage  the  minds,  and  interest  the  hearts,  of  heaven's 
inhabitants.  It  will,  indeed,  form  a  vast  storehouse,  whence 
pious  minds  can  draw  fuel  to  kindle  into  a  purer  and  brighter 
flame  their  love  and  their  devotion  ;  for  thence  will  they  de- 
rive new  and  higher  developments  of  the  divine  character. 
Shall  we  not,  then,  admit  that  to  be  religious  truth  on  earth 
which  in  heaven  will  form  the  food  of  perfectly  holy  minds  ? 

The  position  which  I  laid  down,  at  the  outset,  that  scien- 
tific truth,  rightly  applied,  is  religious  truth,  seems  to  me  most 
clearly  established.  If  admitted,  there  flow  from  it  several 
inferences  of  no  small  interest,  which  I  am  constrained  to 
present  to  your  consideration. 

In  tJie  first  place,  linfer  from  this  discussion  that  the  prin- 
ciples of  science  are  a  transcript  of  the  Divine  Character. 

I  mean  by  this,  that  the  laws  of  nature,  which  are  synony- 
mous with  the  principles  of  science,  are  not  the  result  of  any 
arbitrary  and  special  enactment  on  the  part  of  the  Deity,  but 
flow  naturally  from  his  perfections  ;  so  that,  in  fact,  the  varied 
principles  of  science  are  but  so  many  expressions  of  the  per- 
fections of  Jehovah.      If  the  universe  had  only  a  transient 


SCIENCE    PERVERTED.  499 

existence,  we  might  suppose  the  laws  that  govern  it  to  be  the 
result  of  a  special  ordination  of  the  Deity,  and  destined  to 
perish  with  the  annihilation  of  matter.  But  since  we  have  no 
evidence  that  matter  will  ever  perish,  and  at  least  probable 
evidence  that  it  will  exist  forever,  the  more  rational  supposi- 
tion is,  that  its  laws  result  from  the  nature  of  things,  and  are 
only  a  development  of  so  many  features  of  the  divine  char- 
acter. If  so,  then  the  most  important  inquiry  in  the  study  of 
the  sciences  is  to  learn  from  them  the  phases  in  which  they 
present  the  divine  perfections. 

In  the  second  place,  it  does  not  follow  from  this  subject 
that  the  most  extensive  acquisitions  in  science  necessarily  im- 
ply the  possession  of  true  piety. 

Piety  consists  in  the  exercise  of  right  affections  of  heart 
towards  God,  excited  by  religious  truth.  Now,  I  have  at- 
tempted to  show  only,  that  the  natural  tendency  of  scientific 
truth  is  to  excite  such  religious  affections;  but  that  tendency, 
like  all  other  good  influences,  may  be,  and  often  is,  resisted. 
Hence  a  man  may  reach  the  loftiest  pinnacle  of  scientific  glory 
whose  heart  has  never  heaved  with  one  religious  emotion. 
He  may  penetrate  to  the  very  holy  of  holies  in  nature's  tem- 
ple, and  yet  retain  his  atheism,  in  spite  of  the  hallowed  influ- 
ences that  surround  him.  Nothing  is  plainer  in  theory,  and, 
alas  !  nothing  has  been  more  surely  confirmed  by  experience, 
than  that  the  possession  of  science  is  not  the  possession  of 
religion. 

In  the  third  place,  ivhat  a  perversion  of  science  it  is  to 
employ  it  against  religion  ! 

Rightly  understood,  and  fairly  interpreted,  there  is  not  a 
single  scientific  truth  that  does  not  harmoniously  accord  with 
revealed  as  well  as  natural  religion  ;  and  yet,  by  superficial 
minds,  almost  every  one  of  these  principles  has,  at  one  time 


500  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

or  another,  been  regarded  as  in  collision  with  religion,  and 
especially  with  revelation.  One  after  another  have  these  ap- 
parent discrepancies  melted  away  before  the  clearer  light  of 
further  examination.  And  yet,  up  to  the  present  day,  not  a 
few,  closing  their  eyes  against  the  lessons  of  experience,  still 
fancy  that  the  responses  of  science  are  not  in  unison  with 
those  from  revelation.  But  this  is  a  sentiment  which  finds  no 
place  with  the  profound  and  unprejudiced  philosopher  ;  for 
he  has  seen  too  much  of  the  harmony  between  the  works  and 
the  word  of  God  to  doubt  the  identity  of  their  origin.  He 
knows  it  to  be  a  sad  perversion  of  scientific  truth  to  use  it 
for  the  discredit  of  religion.  He  knows  that  the  inspiration 
of  the  Almighty  breathed  the  same  spirit  into  science  as  into 
religion  ;  and  if  they  utter  discordant  tones,  it  must  be  be- 
cause one  or  the  other  has  been  forced  to  speak  in  an  unnat- 
ural dialect. 

In  the  fourth  place,  how  entirely  have  the  natural  tenden- 
cies of  science  been  misunderstood^  when  they  have  been  rep- 
resented as  leading  to  religious  scepticism  ! 

I  do  not  deny  the  fact  that  many  scientific  men  have  been 
sceptical.  But  I  maintain  that  this  has  been  in  spite  of  sci- 
ence, rather  than  the  result  of  its  natural  tendency  ;  for  we 
have  shown  that  tendency  in  all  cases  to  be  favorable  to  piety. 
Other  more  powerful  causes,  therefore,  must  have  operated 
to  counteract  the  natural  influence  of  scientific  truth  in  those 
cases  wliere  men  eminent  for  science  have  spurned  away 
from  them  the  authority  of  religion.  Among  these  causes, 
the  pride  of  knowledge  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  ;  and  be- 
fore the  mind  has  attained  to  very  profound  views  of  science, 
this  pride  does  often  exert  a  most  disastrous  influence  upon  a 
man's  religious  feelings. 

He  is  looked  up  to  as  an  oracle  on  other  subjects,  and  why 


CAUSES    OF    SCEPTICISM.  501 

should  he  not  be  equally  wise  concerning  religion  ?  It  is  nat- 
ural for  him  to  feel  desirous,  in  such  circumstances,  of  rising 
above  all  vulgar  and  superstitious  views,  and  of  convincing 
his  fellow-men  that  he  has  made  as  great  discoveries  in  reli- 
gion as  in  science.  He,  therefore,  calls  in  question  the  pre- 
vailing religious  opinions.  Having  once  taken  his  stand 
against  the  truth,  pride  does  not  allow  him  to  recede,  and  he 
endeavors  to  convert  scientific  truth  into  weapons  against  reli- 
gion. And  this  perversion  produces  the  impression,  with  those 
not  familiar  with  its  natural  tendency,  that  science  fosters 
scepticism. 

Another  cause  of  this  scepticism  is  a  superficial  acquaint- 
ance with  the  religious  bearings  of  scientific  truth.  It  is  one 
thing  to  master  the  principles  of  science  in  an  abstract  form, 
and  quite  a  different  thing  to  understand  their  religious  bear- 
ings. Moral  reasoning  is  so  different  from  physical  and  math- 
ematical, that  often  a  mind  which  is  a  prodigy  for  the  latter, 
is  a  mere  Lilliput  in  the  former.  And  yet  that  mind  may 
fancy  itself  as  profound  in  the  one  as  in  the  other,  and  may, 
therefore,  be  as  tenacious  of  its  errors  in  religion  as  of  its 
demonstrated  verities  in  science. 

In  the  following  extract  it  will  be  seen  that  Dr.  Chalmers 
imputes  the  religious  scepticism  connected  with  science 
chiefly  to  a  superficial  acquaintance  with  science.  His  re- 
marks may  seem  unreasonably  severe  and  sweeping  ;  never- 
theless, they  deserve  consideration.  And  they  accord  with 
the  idea  of  Lord  Bacon,  who  says,  "  A  smattering  of  philoso- 
phy leads  to  atheism  ;  whereas  a  thorough  acquaintance  with 
it  brings  him  back  again  to  religion."  "  We  have  heard," 
Dr.  Chalmers  remarks,  "  that  the  study  of  natural  science 
disposes  to  infidelity.  But  we  feel  persuaded  that  this  is  a 
danger  associated  only  with  a  slight  and  partial,  never  with  a 


502  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

deep,  and  adequate,  and  comprehensive,  view  of  its  princi- 
ples. It  is  very  possible  that  the  conjunction  between  science 
and  scepticism  may  at  present  be  more  frequently  realized 
than  in  former  days  ;  but  this  is  only  because,  in  spite  of  all 
that  is  alleged  about  this  our  more  enlightened  day  and  more 
enlightened  public,  our  science  is  neither  so  deeply  founded, 
nor  of  such  firm  and  thorough  staple,  as  it  was  wont  to  be. 
We  have  lost  in  depth  what  we  have  gained  in  diffusion ; 
having  neither  the  massive  erudition,  nor  the  gigantic  schol- 
arship, nor  the  profound  and  well-laid  philosophy  of  a  period 
that  has  now  gone  by  ;  and  it  is  to  this  that  Infidelity  stands 
indebted  for  her  triumphs  among  the  scoffers  and  superficial- 
ists  of  a  half-learned  generation.'"  —  Chalmers's  Works^  vol. 
vii.  p.  262. 

Briefly,  but  nobly,  has  Sir  John  Herschel  vindicated  science 
from  the  charge  of  sceptical  tendencies.  "  Nothing  can  be 
more  unfounded  than  the  objection  which  has  been  taken  in 
limine  by  persons,  well  meaning,  perhaps,  certainly  of  narrow 
minds,  against  the  study  of  natural  philosophy,  and,  indeed, 
against  all  science,  that  it  fosters  in  its  cultivators  an  undue 
and  overweening  self-conceit,  leads  them  to  doubt  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  and  to  scoff  at  revealed  religion.  Its  natu- 
ral effect,  we  may  confidently  assert,  on  every  well-consti- 
tuted mind,  is  and  must  be  the  direct  contrary.  No  doubt  the 
testimony  of  natural  reason,  on  whatever  exercised,  must,  of 
course,  stop  short  of  those  truths  which  it  is  the  object  of 
revelation  to  make  known  ;  but  while  it  places  the  existence 
and  principal  attributes  of  a  Deity  on  such  grounds  as  to  ren- 
der doubt  absurd,  and  atheism  ridiculous,  it  unquestionably 
opposes  no  natural  or  necessary  obstacle  to  further  progress ; 
on  the  contrary,  by  cherishing  as  a  vital  principle  an  un- 
bounded  spirit   of   inquiry  and   ardency  of    expectation,  it 


CHARACTER    OF    THE    TRUE    PHILOSOPHER.  503 

unfetters  the  mind  from  prejudices  of  every  kind,  and  leaves  it 
open  to  every  impression  of  a  higher  nature,  which  it  is  sus- 
ceptible of  receiving ;  guarding  only  against  enthusiasm  and 
self-deception  by  a  habit  of  strict  investigation,  but  encour- 
aging, rather  than  suppressing,  every  thing  that  can  offer  a 
prospect  or  hope  beyond  the  present  obscure  and  unsatisfac- 
tory state.  The  character  of  the  true  philosopher  is  to  hope 
all  things  not  impossible,  and  to  believe  all  things  not  unrea- 
sonable." —  Diss,  on  Study  of  Nat.  Phil. 

In  speaking  of  geology  and  revelation.  Sir  John  says, 
"  There  cannot  be  two  truths  in  contradiction  to  one  another, 
and  a  man  must  have  a  mind  fitted  neither  for  scientific  nor 
for  religious  truth,  whose  religion  can  be  disturbed  by  geolo- 
gy, or  whose  geology  can  be  distorted  from  its  character  of 
an  inductive  science  by  a  determination  to  accommodate  its 
results  to  preconceived  interpretations  of  the  Mosaic  cosmog- 
ony."—  Dr.  J.  P.  Smith''s  Lectures,  p.  viii.  4th  edition. 

"  We  have  often  mourned,"  says  M'Cosh,  "  over  the 
attempts  made  to  set  the  works  of  God  against  the  word  of 
God,  and  thereby  excite,  propagate,  and  perpetuate  jealousies 
fitted  to  separate  parties  that  ought  to  live  in  closest  union. 
In  particular,  we  have  always  regretted  that  endeavors  should 
have  been  made  to  depreciate  nature  with  a  view  of  exalting 
revelation ;  it  has  always  appeared  to  us  to  be  nothing  else 
than  the  degrading  of  one  part  of  God's  works  in  the  hope 
thereby  of  exalting  and  recommending  another."  "  Perilous 
as  it  is  at  all  times  for  the  friends  of  religion  to  set  themselves 
against  natural  science,  it  is  especially  dangerous  in  an  age 
like  the  present. 

"  It  is  no  profane  work  that  is  engaged  in  by  those  who,  in 
all  humility,  would  endeavor  to  remove  jealousies  between 


504  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

parties  whom  God  has  joined  together,  and  whom  man  is  not 
at  liberty  to  put  asunder.  We  are  not  lowering  the  dignity 
of  science  when  we  command  it  to  do  what  all  the  objects 
which  it  looks  at  and  admires  do  —  when  we  command  it  to 
worship  God.  Nor  are  we  detracting  from  the  honor  which 
is  due  to  religion  when  we  press  it  to  take  science  into  its 
service,  and  accept  the  homage  which  it  is  able  to  pay.  We 
are  seeking  to  exalt  both  when  we  show  how  nature  conducts 
man  to  the  threshold  of  religion,  and  when  from  this  point  we 
bid  him  look  abroad  on  the  wide  territories  of  nature.  We 
would  aid  at  the  same  time  both  religion  and  science,  by  re- 
moving those  prejudices  against  sacred  truth  which  nature  has 
been  employed  to  foster  ;  and  we  would  accomplish  this  not 
by  casting  aside  and  discarding  nature,  but  by  rightly  in- 
terpreting it. 

"  Let  not  science  and  religion  be  reckoned  as  opposing 
citadels,  frowning  defiance  upon  each  other,  and  their  troops 
brandishing  their  armor  in  hostile  attitude.  They  have  too 
many  common  foes,  if  they  would  but  think  of  it,  in  ignorance 
and  prejudice,  in  passion  and  vice,  under  all  their  forms,  to 
admit  of  their  lawfully  wasting  their  strength  in  a  useless 
warfare  with  each  other.  Science  has  a  foundation,  and  so 
has  religion ;  let  them  unite  their  foundations,  and  the  basis 
will  be  broader,  and  they  will  be  two  compartments  of  one 
great  fabric  reared  to  the  glory  of  God.  Let  the  one  be  the 
outer  and  the  other  the  inner  court.  In  the  one,  let  all  look, 
and  admire,  and  adore  ;  and  in  the  other,  let  those  who  have 
faith  kneel,  and  pray,  and  praise.  Let  the  one  be  the  sanc- 
tuary where  human  learning  may  present  its  richest  incense 
as  an  offering  to  God,  and  the  other  the  holiest  of  all,  sep- 
arated from  it  by  a  veil  now  rent  in  twain,  and  in  which,  on  a 


A   COMMON    CAUSE.  505 

blood-sprinkled  mercy-seat,  we  pour  out  the  love  of  a  recon- 
ciled heart,  and  hear  the  oracles  of  the  living  God."  —  Method 
of  the  Divine  Government^  p.  449,  et  seq. 

In  the  ffth  place,  scientijic  men  and  religious  men  may 
learn  from  this  subject  to  regard  each  other  as  engaged  in  a 
common  cause. 

If  it  be  indeed  true  that  scientific  truth,  rightly  applied,  is 
religious  truth,  then  may  the  religious  man  be  sure  that  every 
scientific  discovery  will  ultimately  contribute  to  the  illustration 
of  the  character  or  government  of  the  Deity  ;  and  therefore 
should  he  encourage  and  rejoice  in  all  such  investigations, 
and  bid  God  speed  to  the  votaries  of  science.  Even  though 
he  cannot  see  how  the  new  discovery  will  illustrate  religion, 
and  though,  when  imperfectly  developed,  it  may  seem  to  have 
an  unfavorable  aspect,  he  need  not  fear  to  confide  in  the  gen- 
eral principle  that  science  and  religion  are  alike  of  divine 
origin,  and  must  be  in  harmony.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
votary  of  science  should  remember  that  the  state  of  society 
most  favorable  to  his  pursuits  is  one  in  which  religion  exerts 
the  strongest  influence.  It  is  for  his  interest,  therefore,  merely 
as  a  lover  of  science,  and  much  more  as  a  moral  and  account- 
able agent,  to  have  pure  religion  prevail.  Scientific  and  reli- 
gious men  should,  therefore,  look  upon  each  other  as  co-labor- 
ers in  a  most  noble  cause  —  in  illustrating  the  divine  character 
and  government.  All  jealousy  and  narrow-minded  exclusive- 
ness  should  be  banished,  and  side  by  side  should  they  labor 
in  warm-hearted  and  generous  sympathy.  Alas  !  how  different 
from  this  has  been  the  history  of  the  past !  and,  to  a  great 
extent,  how  different  it  is  at  present !  "  A  study  of  the  natu- 
ral world,"  says  Professor  Sedgwick,  "  teaches  not  the  truths 
of  revealed  religion,  nor  do  the  truths  of  religion  inform  us 
of  the  inductions  of  physical  science.  Hence  it  is  that  men, 
43 


506  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

whose  studies  are  too  much  confined  to  one  branch  of  knowl- 
edge, often  learn  to  overrate  themselves,  and  so  become  nar- 
row minded.  Bigotry  is  a  besetting  sin  of  our  nature.  Too 
often  has  it  been  the  attendant  of  religious  zeal ;  but  it  is 
perhaps  the  most  bitter  and  unsparing  when  found  among  the 
irreligious.  A  philosopher,  not  understanding  one  atom  of 
their  spirit,  will  sometimes  scoff  at  the  labors  of  religious 
men ;  and  one  who  calls  himself  religious  will,  perhaps, 
return  a  like  harsh  judgment,  and  thank  God  that  he  is  not  as 
the  philosophers ;  forgetting,  all  the  while,  that  man  can 
ascend  to  no  knowledge  except  by  faculties  given  to  him  by 
his  Creator's  hand,  and  that  all  natural  knowledge  is  but  a 
reflection  of  the  will  of  God.  In  harsh  judgments,  such  as 
these,  there  is  not  only  much  folly,  but  much  sin.  True  wis- 
dom consists  in  seeing  how  all  the  faculties  of  the  mind  and 
all  parts  of  knowledge  bear  upon  each  other,  so  as  to  work 
together  to  a  common  end  ;  ministering  at  once  to  the  happi- 
ness of  man  and  his  Maker's  glory."  —  Discourse  on  the 
Studies  of  the  University,  5th  edition,  p.  105,  appendix. 

In  the  sixth  place,  the  subject  shows  us  what  is  the  most  im- 
portant use  to  he  derived  from  science. 

It  does  not  consist,  as  men  have  been  supposing,  in  its 
application  to  the  useful  arts,  whereby  civilization  and  human 
comfort  and  happiness  are  so  greatly  promoted  ;  although 
men  have  thereby  been  raised  from  a  state  of  barbarism  and 
advanced  to  a  high  point  on  the  scale  of  refinement.  It  is 
not  the  application  of  science  as  a  means  of  enlarging  and 
disciplining  the  mind ;  although  this  would  be  a  noble  result 
of  scientific  study.  But  it  is  its  application  for  the  illustra- 
tion of  religion.  This,  I  say,  is  its  most  important  use.  For 
what  higher  or  nobler  purpose  can  any  pursuit  subserve  than 
in  developing  the  character,  gcrvernment,  and  will  of  that 


SCIENCE    AND    PIETY.  507 

infinite  Being,  who  is  the  sum  and  centre  of  all  perfection  avA 
happiness  ?  Other  objects  accomplished  by  science  are  im- 
portant, and  in  the  bustle  of  life  they  may  seem  to  be  its  chief 
end.  But  in  the  calmness  of  mature  years,  when  we  begin 
to  estimate  things  according  to  their  real  value,  we  shall  see 
that  the  religious  bearings  of  any  pursuit  far  transcend  in 
importance  all  its  other  relations  ;  fo.'  all  its  other  tendencies 
and  uses  are  limited  to  this  world,  ana  will,  therefore,  be  tran- 
sient ;  but  every  thing  which  bears  the  stamp  of  religion  is 
immortal,  and  every  thing  which  concerns  the  Deity  is  infi- 
nite. It  is  true  that  but  few  who  are  engaged  in  scientific 
pursuits  make  much  account  of  their  bearings  upon  man's 
highest  interests  ;  but  very  different  will  it  be  in  heaven. 
There,  so  far  as  we  know,  all  the  applications  of  science  to 
the  useful  arts  will  be  unknown,  and  the  great  object  of  its 
cultivation  will  be  to  gain  new  and  clearer  views  of  the  per- 
fections and  plans  of  Jehovah,  and  thus  to  awaken  towards 
him  a  deeper  reverence  and  a  warmer  love.  And  such  should 
be  the  richest  fruit  of  scientific  researches  on  earth. 

In  the  seventh  place,  the  subject  shows  us  that  those  luho  are 
the  most  eminent  in  science  ought  to  he  the  most  eminent  in 
piety. 

I  am  far  from  maintaining  that  science  is  a  sufficient  guide 
in  religion.  On  the  other  hand,  if  left  to  itself,  as  I  fully 
admit, — 

♦'  It  leads  to  bewilder,  and  dazzles  to  blind." 

Nor  do  I  maintain  that  scientific  truth,  even  when  properly 
appreciated,  will  compare  at  all,  in  its  influence  upon  the  hu- 
man mind,  with  those  peculiar  and  higher  truths  disclosed  by 
revelation.  All  I  contend  for  is,  that  scientific  truth,  illustrat- 
ing as  it  does  the  divine  character,  plans,  and  government, 


508  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    RELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

ought  to  fan  and  feed  the  flame  of  true  piety  in  the  hearts  of 
its  cultivators.  He,  therefore,  who  knows  the  most  of  science 
ought  most  powerfully  to  feel  this  religious  influence.  He  is 
not  confined,  like  the  great  mass  of  men,  to  the  outer  court 
of  nature's  magnificent  temple,  but  he  is  admitted  to  the  inte- 
rior, and  allowed  to  trace  its  long  halls,  aisles,  and  galleries, 
arid  gaze  upon  its  lofty  domes  and  arches ;  nay,  as  a  priest 
he  enters  the  penetralia,  the  holy  of  holies,  where  sacred  fire 
is  always  burning  upon  the  altars,  where  hovers  the  glorious 
Schekinah,  and  where,  from  a  full  orchestra,  the  anthem  of 
praise  is  ever  ascending.  Petrified,  indeed,  must  be  his  heart, 
if  it  catches  none  of  the  inspiration  of  such  a  spot.  He  ought 
to  go  forth  from  it  among  his  fellow-men  with  radiant  glory 
on  his  face,  like  Moses  from  the  holy  mount.  He  who  sees 
most  of  God  in  his  works  ought  to  show  the  stamp  of  di- 
vinity upon  his  character,  and  lead  an  eminently  holy  life. 

Fi/Mlly,  the  subject  gives  great  interest  and  dignity  to  the 
study  of  science. 

It  is  not  strange  that  the  religious  man  should  sometimes 
find  his  ardor  damped  in  the  pursuit  of  some  branches  of 
knowledge,  by  the  melancholy  reflection  that  they  can  be  of 
no  use  beyond  this  world,  and  will  exist  only  as  objects  of 
memory  in  eternity.  He  may  have  devoted  many  a  toilsome 
year  to  the  details  and  manipulations  of  the  arts;  and,  so  far 
as  this  world  is  concerned,  his  labors  have  been  eminently 
salutary  and  interesting.  But  all  his  labors  and  researches 
can  be  of  no  avail  on  the  other  side  of  the  grave  ;  and  he 
cannot  but  feel  sad  that  so  much  study  and  efforts  should 
leave  results  no  more  permanent.  Or  he  may  have  given  his 
best  days  to  loading  his  memory  with  those  tongues  which 
the  Scriptures  assure  us  shall  cease  ;  or  to  those  details  of 
material  organization  which  can  have  no  place  or  antitype  in 


PERMANENT    PRINCIPLES.  509 

the  future  world.  Interesting,  therefore,  as  such  pursuits  have 
been  on  earth,  nay,  indispensable  as  they  are  to  the  well  being 
and  progress  of  human  society,  it  is  melancholy  to  realize  that 
they  form  a  part  of  that  knowledge  which  will  vanish  away. 

The  mind  delights  in  the  prospect  of  again  turning  its  atten- 
tion to  those  branches  of  knowledge  which  have  engrossed 
and  interested  it  on  earth,  and  of  doing  this  under  circum- 
stances far  more  favorable  to  their  investigation.  And  such 
an  anticipation  he  may  reasonably  indulge,  who  devotes  him- 
self on  earth  to  any  branch  of  knowledge  not  dependent  on 
arrangements  and  organizations  peculiar  to  this  world.  He 
may  be  confident  that  he  is  investigating  those  principles 
which  will  form  a  part  of  the  science  of  heaven.  Should  he 
ever  reach  that  pure  world,  he  knows  that  the  clogs  which 
now  weigh  down  his  mind  will  drop  off,  and  the  clouds  that 
obscure  his  vision  will  clear  away,  and  that  a  brighter  sun 
will  pour  its  radiance  upon  his  path.  He  is  filling  his  mind 
with  principles  that  are  immortal.  He  is  engaged  in  pursuits 
to  which  glorified  and  angelic  minds  are  devoting  their  lofty 
powers.  Other  branches  of  knowledge,  highly  esteemed 
among  men,  shall  pass  away  with  the  destruction  of  this 
world.  The  baseless  hypotheses  of  science,  falsely  so  called, 
whether  moral,  intellectual,  or  physical,  and  the  airy  phan- 
toms of  a  light  and  fictitious  literature,  shall  all  pass  into  the 
limbo  of  forgetfulness.  But  the  principles  of  true  science, 
constituting,  as  they  do,  the  pillars  of  the  universe,  shall  bear 
up  that  universe  forever.  Flow  many  questions  of  deep  in- 
terest, respecting  his  favorite  science,  must  the  philosopher  in 
this  world  leave  unanswered,  how  many  points  unsettled ! 
But  when  he  stands  upon  the  vantage-ground  of  another  world, 
all  these  points  shall  be  seen  in  the  bright  transparencies  of 
heaven.  In  this  world,  the  votaries  of  science  may  be 
43* 


510  SCIENTIFIC    TRUTH    IS    EELIGIOUS    TRUTH. 

compared  with  the  aborigines  who  dwell  around  some  one  of 
the  principal  sources  of  the  River  Amazon.  They  have  been 
able,  perhaps,  to  trace  one  or  two,  or  it  may  be  a  dozen,  of 
its  tributaries,  from  their  commencement  in  some  mountain 
spring,  and  to  follow  them  onwards  as  they  enlarge  by  uniting, 
so  as  to  bear  along  the  frail  canoes,  in  which,  perhaps,  they 
pass  a  few  hundred  miles  towards  the  ocean.  On  the  right 
and  on  the  left,  a  multitude  of  other  tributaries  swell  the 
stream  which  carries  them  onward,  until  it  seems  to  them  a 
mighty  river.  But  they  are  ignorant  of  the  hundred  other 
tributaries  which  drain  the  vast  eastern  slope  of  the  Andes, 
and  sweep  over  the  wide  plains,  till  their  united  waters  have 
formed  the  majestic  Amazon.  Of  that  river  in  its  full  glory, 
and  especially  of  the  immense  ocean  that  lies  beyond,  the 
natives  have  no  conception;  unless,  perhaps,  some  individual, 
more  daring  than  the  rest,  has  floated  onward  till  his  aston- 
ished eye  could  scarcely  discern  the  shore  on  either  hand, 
and  before  him  he  saw  the  illimitable  Atlantic,  whitened  by 
the  mariner's  sail  and  the  crested  waves  ;  and  he  may  have 
gone  back  to  tell  his  unbelieving  countrymen  the  marvellous 
story.  Just  so  is  it  with  men  of  science.  They  are  able  to 
trace  with  clearness  a  few  rills  of  truth  from  the  fountain 
head,  and  to  follow  them  onward  till  they  unite  in  a  great 
principle,  which  at  first  men  fancy  is  the  chief  law  of  the  uni- 
verse. But  as  they  venture  still  farther  onward,  they  find 
new  tributary  truths  coming  in  on  either  side,  to  form  a  prin- 
ciple or  law  still  more  broad  and  comprehensive.  Yet  it  is 
only  a  few  gifted  and  adventurous  minds  that  are  able,  from 
some  advanced  mountain  top,  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  entire 
stream  of  truth,  formed  by  the  harmonious  union  of  all  prin- 
ciples, and  flowing  on  majestically  into  the  boundless  ocean 
of  all  knowledge,  the  Infinite  Mind.     But  when  the  Christian 


THE  GREAT  OCEAN  OF  TRUTH.  511 

philosopher  shall  be  permitted  to  resume  the  study  of  science 
in  a  future  world,  with  powers  of  investigation  enlarged  and 
clarified,  and  all  obstacles  removed,  he  will  be  able  to  trace 
onward  the  various  ramifications  of  truth,  till  they  unite  into 
higher  and  higher  principles,  and  become  one  in  that  centre 
of  centres,  the  Divine  Mind.  That  is  the  Ocean  from  which 
all  truth  originally  sprang,  and  to  which  it  ultimately  returns. 
To  trace  out  the  shores  of  that  shoreless  Sea,  to  measure  its 
measureless  extent,  and  to  fathom  its  unfathomable  depths, 
will  be  the  noble  and  the  joyous  work  of  eternal  ages.  And 
yet  eternal  ages  may  pass  by  and  see  the  work  only  begun. 


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